Movie review: Blood and Sand
By Ellie Ana and Ella Brady
Blood and Sand (1941), directed by Rouben Mamoulian, follows the life of a bullfighter, Juan Gallardo, from his early life to his death. Such a plot is suffused with different tropes that collide, where the beginning of the movie serves as a rags to riches coming of age story, as Gallardo goes from being born into poverty to becoming one of the greatest bullfighters in Madrid, marrying his childhood friend Carmen along the way. While Gallardo is out achieving fame, however, his love becomes unfaithful as he is seduced by the widowed Dona Sol. Gallardo eventually tries to leave the relationship, angering Dona Sol.
The movie was originally produced in 1922 as a silent film and was received warmly by fans and critics alike. Later on, in 1941, Blood and Sand was reconceived as an epic movie with full sound and technicolor, and is also considered excellent, although less so than its predecessor. The silent version feels very mysterious and its drama is very subtle. It has a humility granted by its comedic treatment of the exaggerated expressions of the characters during seduction and victory.
When watching, one feels simultaneously drawn into the world and ten times removed from it. The dancing scene especially holds a special seductive magic that the color film, even with Rita Hayworth, does not achieve. Their attraction is felt through traditional dance and entrancing images of, for instance, Carmen biting a rose, or Gallardo arching his back to reach Carmen’s window with the ice blue lighting hitting their round faces.
The spirit of bullfighting is alive in this movie. The poet-playwright Federico Garcia Lorca writes, “The bullfighter who terrifies the public with his bravery in the ring is not fighting bulls, but has lowered himself to a ridiculous level, to doing what anyone can do, by playing with his life: but the toreador who is bitten by the duende gives a lesson in Pythagorean music and makes us forget that he is constantly throwing his heart at the horns.”
This drama is most present in the last bullfight, where Gallardo has lost everything. He dies in the end, but more importantly, he risks everything, and the exhilaration of death is felt.
All these themes are Americanized and domesticated in the technicolor “masterpiece.” The seductive scenes feel self indulgent and decadent. The small, subtly comedic and dramatic moments have been aggrandized and the viewer loses touch with the bullfighting.
Meanwhile, the emphasis on the fights is in glory and honor, which betrays the Spanish tradition of humble confrontation with death. There is a need to make the experience competitive rather than personal. Gallardo as a character is also very easy to dislike. His arrogance is not pitiful but hateful, and nothing about him changes by the end of the movie.
The most interesting character is Rita Hayworth’s Dona Sol, who commands the stage in place of the bulls. She embodies the temptress roles so popular in the 1940s. The seduction, however, is not mysterious, but in-your-face archetypal.
This issue embodies the problem of the whole movie: the personality and individuality has been lost in place of gaudy seduction and heroism. However, “Blood and Sand” is a bullfighter's journey, not the one of a hero.
