Review: GORED

Bullfighting is one of those things that has always fascinated me.  Mostly due to the fact that I could never understand why any human being would put themselves in the eye of death on a continuous basis.

We spend so much time these days trying to live longer, look younger and eat better that it just boggles my mind that a human being would face death for a living.

So, it suffices to say that when I saw “Gored” on the schedule, I just had to make it one of my priority screenings at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival.

“Gored” gives us a front-row  view into the life of of famed bullfighter Antonio Barrera, who likens his relationship with a woman as intimate as the one he has with a bull in the ring.

With looks like a young Al Pacino, Antonio Barrera is the most gored bullfighter in modern history,  He’s been gored twenty three times, an unusually high number that includes seventeen surgeries, countless broken bones and many mental scars.

Now with a family to consider, a body that won’t hold up and a lack of interest from promoters, Barrera has decided to retire.  Yet, he still fantasizes of becoming a well-known bullfighter and to do that he feels he must sacrifice himself to the bulls. Will he survive his final performance?

Like his father before him, Barrera knew that if you were poor and uneducated bullfighting gave one status.  Only the noble, bravest and courageous are the ones who survive and in Spain you have to be so good your fighting technique should look like a tragic ballet.

Two moments that literally made me hold my breath –  When Barrera foght in the rain, dropped to his knees waiting for the bull to strike and when he was gored, incubated, died, came back to life and went back into the ring to finish his fight.

Everyone has a dream.  Some see it realized and others spend their whole lives waiting for that pivotal moment that the dream becomes a reality.  Now that Barrera has retired from the ring and manages up and coming bullfighters the question he is left with is “What is My Dream Now”?

“Gored” had its U.S. theatrical debut at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 16, 2015 and an exclusive screener can be found http://on.aol.com/video/gored–exclusive-screener-518759427.

For more info on the film and Antonio Barrera and “Gored”, log onto www.goredthemovie.com.

#carlarenatascorner #tribecafilmfestival