A Philosopher in the Arena
They reflect on mankind’s relationship with animals and nature, but most importantly on our relationship with death and the meaning of the ultimate journey: life itself.
Genres
Overview
After his retirement, french philosopher and bullfighting enthusiast Francis Wolff decides to embark on a journey to France, Spain and Mexico joined by two mexican filmmakers who hardly know anything about bullfighting, a culture whose days seem to be numbered. During their road trip, they encounter numerous personalities with whom they reflect on mankind’s relationship with animals and nature, but most importantly on our relationship with death and the meaning of the ultimate journey: life itself.
Details
Budget
$0
Revenue
$0
Runtime
105 min
Release Date
2019-02-01
Status
Released
Original Language
Spanish
Vote Count
1
Vote Average
2
Francis Wolff
Self
Juan Ramón de la Fuente
Self
Eduardo Matos Moctezuma
Self
José Cueli
Self
Mario Vargas Llosa
Self
Joselito Adame
Self
Miquel Barceló
Self
Claude Lanzmann
Self
Georges Didi-Huberman
Self
Catherine Millet
Self
Agustín Díaz Yañez
Self
Antonio Calera-Grobet
Self
0.0
Torero
Mariano Cruz Ordóñez is an Ecuadorian bullfighter at the end of his artistic career. Mariano was a figure of bullfighting in Ecuador and participated in the most important bullrings of his country and the world. The glory years have passed and prohibitions have arisen regarding bullfighting shows, and the only thing left is, with tenacity and faith, to fight against various adverse circumstances looking for a chance to move foward.
2019-09-13 | es
10.0
Santa Fiesta
SINOPSIS / SYNOPSIS Every year in Spain, some 16,000 Fiestas are organized, during which animals are used. Honoring the Holy Virgin and the Patron Saints, and with the blessing of religious and political authorities, entire towns -including children- are involved in celebrations of unbelievable cruelty. 60,000 animals are hence abused each year during these “Fiestas of Blood”.
2016-04-29 | en
0.0
Only the Brave
Documentary on bullfighting by Spanish director Sonia Herman Dolz.
1993-11-16 | es
5.7
Méditerranée
[Here] Pollet made a work that is the very definition of what French critics like to call an ovni or ufo (as in ‘unidentified filmic object’). [It] has been described as being ‘like a comet in the sky of French cinema,’ an ‘unknown masterpiece,’ and an ‘unprecedented’ work that refuses interpretation even as it has provoked reams of critical writing. Its rhythmic collage of images – a girl on a gurney, a fisherman, Greek ruins, a Sicilian garden, a Spanish corrida – is accompanied by an abstract commentary written by Sollers, and only the somber lyricism of Antoine Duhamel’s score holds the film’s elements together. At first viewing, you fear that [it] might fly apart into incoherent fragments. Instead, over the course of its 45 minutes it invents its own rules, and you realize you’re watching something like the filmic channeling of an ancient ritual. – Chris Darke, FILM COMMENT
1963-04-23 | fr
6.7
Arruza
Eight years in the making, Boetticher’s portrait of his longtime friend, the famous bullfighter Carlos Arruza, was a labor of love that the renowned director of westerns pursued despite contending with illnesses, bankruptcy, jail time, and lucrative offers from Hollywood. The result is an astonishing work of poetry, immediacy, and violence that fearlessly wrestles with the filmmaker’s own ambivalence about the titular matador’s triumphs prior to his death by automobile accident at the age of 46.
1972-08-23 | en
0.0
Bullfight
The film evokes all the aspects of bullfighting - its history, the bulls, the toreros, the arena, the audience - and involves numerous matadors from the era.
1951-07-10 | fr
7.0
Cordobés 65
A brief portrait of famous and brave bullfighter Manuel Benítez el Corbobés; an account on still photos of his triumphs and failures.
1965-01-01 | es
8.0
American Bullfighter
The story of one American overcoming the demons of his past by entering the secretive world of Spanish bullfighting.
2008-04-15 | en
0.0
Born to Fight
A showcase of bullfighting in Portugal, explaining how the country's version of the sport differs from those in Spain and Latin America and helps define the national character. After showing the training techniques for the bulls and horses, a bullfight is presented.
1956-10-12 | en
5.0
Torerillos, 61
This short film "Torerillos 61" is one of the first works of the master Patino, which tries to portray the Spanish society of the time outside the state convention and dodging the hand of censorship. Social commitment is the brand director throughout his long career, starting with short films such as this one, made in the early sixties, in the wake of the statements in Talks Salamanca. The sadness off the characters portrayed is bleak, "Maletillas" (aspiring bullfighters) in search of luck to pull them out of poverty.
1962-01-01 | es
5.0
L'Atelier du Val de Grâce
Home movie from Man Ray with a view of his home/gallery
1935-12-29 | fr
0.0
A French Youth
In the heart of the Camargue region, in the south of France, Jawad and Belka find freedom in their love of Camargue races. For these young Maghrebi men, the event is more than a simple tradition. Facing off with a bull is an opportunity to establish their place in the arena—and in French society. But at what cost?
2024-11-15 | fr
5.0
Orson Welles in Spain
Orson Welles pitches to potential investors his vision of a largely improvised bullfighter movie about an existential, James Dean type troubadour who sets himself apart from other matadors. In front of an audience of wealthy arts patrons, Welles pontificates on the state of cinema, the filmmaking process, and the art of bullfighting.
1966-06-01 | en
0.0
Las Toreras
Jackie Brutsche tries to unravel the dark secrets of her family and answer unanswered questions about her mother.
2023-10-02 | de
5.3
You Alone
In their spare time, after their studies or their work, children and adolescents between the ages of eight and sixteen meet at the School of Bullfighting in Madrid to learn the Art of Cúchares: Torear. In their stomachs there is no hunger as in the past, their dreams do not lie in having a farmhouse and being famous. Their only dreams are to be in front of a bull, animal with which death goes, fact of which they are fully aware, as their teachers continually remind them. These, retired bullfighters, some by age, others by force and all with their bodies full of scars produced by the horns of a bull. The nude bullfighting scene is fascinating without being exploitive, and it serves as an analogy for the vulnerability these young bullfighters have when in the ring with the bulls.
1984-09-01 | es
6.3
Death: The Ultimate Horror
This grisly documentary presents horrifying journalistic footage of suicides, assassinations, bombings, mob hits, decapitations, and more in bloody detail. Not for the faint of heart.
1995-01-01 | en
0.0
Our Forest Moon
Colombian teenagers study the traditional art of bullfighting in the sleepy town of Choachi. They live and train in an oasis of teen aged camaraderie and dreams for the future. But when bullfighting becomes banned in Bogota, the boys' sanctuary slowly becomes susceptible to society's larger struggles of class and conflict. Inspired by the watchful eye of retired bullfighter Nicolas, the bullfighting students strive to succeed first as Matadors, then as role models themselves. Interpreting bullfighting as a living metaphor for personal, social and historical struggles, the film focuses on the individual experiences of these boys and their mentor as they try to break free of the bleak future being dictated to them by Colombian society.
2015-04-29 | es
4.1
Spanish Bullfight
With a crowded arena in the background, a stationary camera records a bull charging a picador astride his horse. An attendant on foot throws stones at the rump of the horse to get it to move. Various toreadors run past the bull to try to get him to charge or at least run about.
1900-01-01 | en
5.0
Course landaise
Short documentary by Man Ray on one his favorite subjects - bullfighting.
1937-12-29 | fr
0.0
Bull Jumping
Little known on this side of the pond, “course landaise” consists of confronting a bull and dodging his powerful charge by way of acrobatic somersault. French athlete Emmanuel Lataste is the first to try to garner attention in North America for this extreme sport.
2016-09-18 | fr