Review of The Hunt

The Hunt (1966)
8/10
A rabbit hunting with four characters facing each other and terminating into a burst of violence
26 November 2012
Interesting and thought-provoking look about a rabbit hunting excursion through a hot , long day . Well directed film by Carlos Saura who tried to create a sort of Spanish Neo-Realism by tackling a hunt starred by four former friends (Alfredo Mayo , Jose Maria Prada , Luis Merlo and Emilio Gutierrez Caba) that becomes a violent confrontation . Both of them find their friendships extended to the breaking point in which emerges violence and vengeance , turning the characters over the edge of breakdown .

This sour picture is well set in Spain of the 60s , when four friends set out a planned hunting and as minor events and disputes led toward more frequent and angrier facing off . This film was notorious in the years of the Franco dictatorship including provoking and polemic issues and played by known and prestigious actors . His style is pretty much sour , dry and realistic as well in the atmosphere as in the fresh dialog . ¨La Caza¨ is one of Saura's undisputed masterpieces and fundamental in his filmography where shows the miseries of some amoral characters and shot at the height of his creativity, in a period cultural difficult, where the enormous censorship of the political regime exacerbated the ingenuity and imagination of the scriptwriters . Splendid photography with juicy atmosphere by Luis Cuadrado who along with Teo Escamilla are considered to be two of the best Spanish cameramen , both of whom worked for Saura . Being splendidly filmed on location in Aranjuez, Madrid, Esquivias, Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha and Seseña, Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain . Atmospheric musical score by Luis De Pablo who composes a thrilling soundtrack plenty of drums and piano sounds . The picture deservedly won Silver Bear in the Berlin Festival for ¨ La Caza or The Chase¨ (1966) his most successful film .

The motion picture perfectly produced by magnificent producer Elias Querejeta was stunningly directed by Carlos Saura , a good Spanish movies director. He began working in cinema in 1959 when he filmed ¨Los Golfos ¨(1962) dealing with juvenile delinquency from a sociological point of view . Saura is a well recognized filmmaker both nationally and internationally, and in proof of it he won many prizes among which there are the following ones: Silver Bear in Festival of Berlin for Peppermint Frappé (1967). Special Jury Awards in Cannes for La Prima Angélica (1974), in 1973, and for Cría Cuervos (1976), in 1975. Also, the film Mamá Cumple Cien Años (1979) got an Oscar nomination in 1979 as the best foreign film, and it also won the Special Jury Award at the San Sebastian Festival. He subsequently made ¨Deprisa , Deprisa¨ based on facts about juvenile delinquency in Spain since the 80s , as he tried to take a position in favour of outcast people and he got to make a both lyric and documentary-style cinema . In 1990, he won two Goya , The Spanish Oscar , as best adapted screenplay writer and best director . Saura became an expert on Iberian musical adaptations as ¨Carmen , Amor Brujo , Bodas De Sangre , Sevillanas ,Iberia , Salome, Fado, Flamenco ¨ and even recently Opera as ¨Io , Don Giovanni¨
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