Arènes sanglantes

Blood and Sand is not merely a melodrama energised by the Spanish temperament (some of the lascivious glances would be allowed today only in porn or in a parody). It is also a meaningful self-reflection of the star system. (I don’t know to what degree credit for that is due to Dorothy Arzner, a film editor and director of subversive films about show business, such as Dance, Girl, Dance). If we would like to find parallels between the film’s protagonist and Rudolph Valentino, the story recounting the rise and fall of a toreador is almost prophetic in some ways. Thanks to his body, a young man from a humble background becomes a legend overnight. Loved by children and women, admired by men, he has to face the  temptations that accompany fame. His inner conflict is mirrored by the two different women, representing two female archetypes (vamp and Madonna), who come into his life. Carmen spends most of her free time praying and never removes the crucifix from around her neck. Conversely, Doña Sol enjoys seducing and rejecting men and, so that the Biblical symbolism is abundantly clear, she gives her lover a ring in the shape of a serpent. We should most likely believe that Juan has become her victim, that she has made him just as much of an outcast as the bandit Plumitas (this parallel is most apparent in the climax). The film’s moralistic undertones gradually gain strength, coming to the surface in the simple ending, when the moralising point is surprisingly repeated by the character of the intellectual who enjoys writing about human vices. Leaving the last word to the film’s second most malevolent character, who could have easily served as a prototype of some tabloid journalists of the time, gives a strong impression of ambivalence. At the time of the film’s premiere, both the puritans, expecting to be punished for their sins, and the viewers (of both genders), who came to the cinema for the fetishising close-ups of Valentino, could be satisfied and only laugh at the dissatisfied intellectual. Similarly, the whole film can be seen as the simultaneous creation and destruction of the cult of a star. 65% (17/10/2013)