I was expecting a more primitive film, somehow - but not at all. It's more reminiscent in style of an Antonioni or low-key Fellini of the period. Luis Cuadrado (Sprit of the Beehive) and his team (Teo Escamilla is the camera operator) are remarkably swift and sharp not just in the hunt scenes but everything - rifle preparation, putting out the fire, underground ferret / rabbit - sweeping and catching in precise and fast detail the action, so there's that feeling of movement in camera acting like editing. Though the editing, by Pablo del Arno, is good too.
Four men - three old friends, one younger - go hunting rabbits - end up hunting each other. Much interesting use of voiceover to convey inner feelings of them all, including bizarre stuff in siesta sequence, where the camera tracks so closely over bodies. They are: Ismael Merlo, Alfredo Mayo, José Maria Prada and Emilio Gutiérrez Caba. With Fernando Sanchez Polack as the local help and Violeta Garcia (her only film) his niece. The ending is quite powerful (though I also found it quite funny, in a black way).
It can be read to be about the socio-political divisions within Spain, of the Civil War, as the three older ones all fought - we think on Franco's side. It's not explicit because of the censorship that still existed, through was beginning to relax.
Saura - who wrote it with Angelino Fons - was best known for Peppermint Frappé (1967), Cria Cuervos (1976), Blood Wedding (1981) and Carmen (1983), but most of his films are well rated. La Prima Angelica (1974) is notable again for Cuadrado's cinematography. (You can buy it with English subtitles here.)
It's interesting (girly mags, Japanese camera, Spanish pop music) and well made. Music by Luis de Pable. Filmed around Aranjuez, Madrid.
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