Carlos Saura

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Reviews: 'La caza'

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Saura's films are explicitly concerned with the problems of Spanish society, a society (as he sees it) which is not yet free of the guilt of the Civil War. This eminence grise colours all his works, in varying degrees; even in such an allegorical piece as La caza its influence can be felt. Much of Saura's output I find mannered and unapproachable …; there is no doubting, however, his technical ability or deep-seated conviction….

Superficial resemblances to [John] Boorman's Deliverance (1972) should not be allowed to diminish the stature of Saura's achievement. His mixed quartet undergoes little physical hardship, and there are no visual thrills to rivet the audience to its seats. Saura's film is considerably more claustrophobic: the nerve-ends are stifled rather than rubbed raw. From the opening credits, unwound over footage of caged ferrets, it is clear that we are in allegorical territory. (p. 33)

The early scenes of re-acquaintance and preparation are handled with a fine sense of atmosphere, and only the dialogue is over-obvious…. At all times one is aware that Enrique is a voice apart from the rest of the group, unhampered by past prejudices or memories. His rejection of much that the other three hold dear is a straightforward metaphor for the generation gap, yet his presence is dramatically required to act as a soundingboard for the older men's prejudices. Saura builds the suspense with great assurance…. The dialogue is direct and pithy, with extremes of friendliness and anger encompassed in the space of a few sentences…. And though one must utterly condemn the explicitness of [the hunting] scenes (rabbits mercilessly shot for real), the tension of the lead-up, with the men spread over the plain to the accompaniment of timpani and snare-drum, is undeniably powerful…. [Saura's] talent for the right image at the right time is always in evidence, and in view of the fact that his metaphors for the men's bottled violence is elsewhere so discreet, it is all the more disgraceful that he saw fit to murder wildlife just for the sake of greater reality.

The climax, when it does come, is sudden and unexpected—dog finally eating dog in out-and-out bloody hate. The theatricalism of the outburst is hardly noticed, so brief are the images, and a shot of one of the victims twitching foetus-like in the dust is a grim comment on the main characters. Saura's targets are often rather facile, and his use of the War as a unifying symbol for the men rather vague, but as pure cinema La caza grips from the first to the very last frame. (p. 34)

Derek Elley, "Reviews: 'La caza'" (© copyright Derek Elley 1976; reprinted with permission), in Films and Filming, Vol. 22, No. 4, January, 1976, pp. 33-4.

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Feature Films: 'La caza' ('The Hunt')

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Poignant Middle Age