THE HUNT

THE HUNT (LA CAZA), 1965
Spain | DVD, Black&White, 83’ | Spanish
Director: Carlos Saura
Cast: Ismael Merlo, Alfredo Mayo, José María Prada

Ranked among the classics of Spanish cinema, The Hunt also won Saura his first international award, the Golden Berlin Bear. In the film, three veterans of the civil war go out on a rabbit hunt in a forest near Madrid. Their plans are to spend a relaxing weekend, but when they start reminiscing about the past, dark memories surface. The film looks at the different states of violence by comparing ritual combat with personal violence and the ruthlessness in nature with vendetta. The film also inspired The Wild Bunch, a major classic by American director Sam Peckinpah produced two years later. A striking psychological thriller that satirizes the ideology of the Franco regime.