Only the Brave

The beauty and brutality of the wildly popular and highly controversial sport of bullfighting are exposed without judgement in Romance De Valentia. Director Sonia Herman Dolz travels beyond the ring to create a stunning portrait of this almost exclusively male world: the breeding of bulls, the training of a young torero, the elaborate ritual of costuming — even what happens to the bull after the fight. The film focuses on Enrique Ponce, a handsome, 20-year old rising star in the ring, following him through a summer of fights that end in an innovative triumph(for man and beast alike). This lush vision of the most macho of blood sports is, interestingly, directed and photographed by women (the latter Ellen Kuras, won Sundance’s award for best cinematography for her work on Swoon).