Born to Fight

Oct 12, 1956

0h 15m

★ 0.0

Overview

A showcase of bullfighting in Portugal, explaining how the country's version of the sport differs from those in Spain and Latin America and helps define the national character. After showing the training techniques for the bulls and horses, a bullfight is presented.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

RKO Pathé Pictures

Born to Fight Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Narrator (voice)

Dwight Weist

Self (uncredited)

Mascareñas

Self (uncredited)

Jose Rosa Rodrigues

Man Exiting Airplane (uncredited)

Marshall Thompson

In their spare time, after their studies or their work, children and adolescents between the ages of eight and sixteen meet at the School of Bullfighting in Madrid to learn the Art of Cúchares: Torear. In their stomachs there is no hunger as in the past, their dreams do not lie in having a farmhouse and being famous. Their only dreams are to be in front of a bull, animal with which death goes, fact of which they are fully aware, as their teachers continually remind them. These, retired bullfighters, some by age, others by force and all with their bodies full of scars produced by the horns of a bull. The nude bullfighting scene is fascinating without being exploitive, and it serves as an analogy for the vulnerability these young bullfighters have when in the ring with the bulls.

0.0

Retratação

Oct 4, 2019

Fernando Lemos, a Portuguese surrealist artist, fled from dictatorship to Brazil in 1952 searching for something better. The movie follows the last moments of his journey and the struggle for the preservation of his legacy, trying to fulfill his last great desire: to be a good dead man.

0.0

Amílcar

Nov 16, 2025

Poet, agricultural engineer and revolutionary Amílcar Cabral was born in Guinea-Bissau to Cape Verdean parents. After studying in Portugal, he emerged as the charismatic leader of the anti-colonial struggle against Portuguese rule. With his utopian ideas, he sparked a cultural and an armed uprising that went on to inspire other African liberation movements.

0.0

Statues of Portugal

Dec 1, 1931

Launch of a competition, organized by the newspaper O Século, entitled Statues of Portugal.

5.0

Orson Welles in Spain

Jun 1, 1966

Orson Welles presents a proposed film project to prospective investors in Spain. Speaking to an audience of wealthy arts patrons, Welles outlines his vision for an improvised, documentary-style fiction set in the world of bullfighting, centered on a solitary, existential matador who stands apart from his peers. As he expounds on cinema, performance, and the ritualized spectacle of death, the film captures a project that would ultimately remain unrealized.

0.0

Blood Is White

Oct 9, 2020

Based on the negatives of the 33 'La Tauromaquia' engravings made by Goya in 1816, the director invites us to witness the transformation of bodies at the approach of death.

0.0

RefleXions

Apr 11, 2025

No overview available.

0.0

Dentro, fora do Brasil

Dec 10, 2024

No overview available.

0.0

The Doors of Perception

Jul 9, 2025

Francisco Esteves, an elevator technician, lives between routine and a quiet passion for art. Inspired by the music of The Doors, he reflects on the paths not taken and the dreams that still drive him, in a constant search for meaning and freedom.

No Image Available

0.0

Saramago: Documentos

Feb 7, 1996

About the Portuguese author José Saramago, based on a long interview with the writer at his home on the island of Lanzarote, in which he analyzes his work and shares his reflection on some aspects of his personal life.

No Image Available

8.0

Olhar o Cinema Português: 1896-2006

Jan 1, 2007

Synthesis of the first 110 years of the history of Portuguese cinema, made almost exclusively with archive material from the series of eight episodes History of Portuguese Cinema, produced by Pedro Efe in 1998, and combining excerpts from films with testimonies from some of the most prominent actors of the same story. It is attempted to relate it chronologically, and in spite of certain gaps, in an accessible, concise and didactic way.

0.0

António Coimbra de Matos: O Olhar Nos Outros

Jan 5, 2022

"Thoughts on the moon, feet on the road, eyes on others": António Coimbra de Matos revolutionized psychoanalysis.

5.5

Méditerranée

Apr 23, 1963

[Here] Pollet made a work that is the very definition of what French critics like to call an ovni or ufo (as in ‘unidentified filmic object’). [It] has been described as being ‘like a comet in the sky of French cinema,’ an ‘unknown masterpiece,’ and an ‘unprecedented’ work that refuses interpretation even as it has provoked reams of critical writing. Its rhythmic collage of images – a girl on a gurney, a fisherman, Greek ruins, a Sicilian garden, a Spanish corrida – is accompanied by an abstract commentary written by Sollers, and only the somber lyricism of Antoine Duhamel’s score holds the film’s elements together. At first viewing, you fear that [it] might fly apart into incoherent fragments. Instead, over the course of its 45 minutes it invents its own rules, and you realize you’re watching something like the filmic channeling of an ancient ritual.

7.2

Where to Invade Next

Dec 23, 2015

To understand firsthand what the United States of America can learn from other nations, Michael Moore playfully “invades” some to see what they have to offer.

No Image Available

5.0

Torerillos, 61

Jan 1, 1962

This short film "Torerillos 61" is one of the first works of the master Patino, which tries to portray the Spanish society of the time outside the state convention and dodging the hand of censorship. Social commitment is the brand director throughout his long career, starting with short films such as this one, made in the early sixties, in the wake of the statements in Talks Salamanca. The sadness off the characters portrayed is bleak, "Maletillas" (aspiring bullfighters) in search of luck to pull them out of poverty.

0.0

Of Another Place

Invalid Date

On a Summer afternoon, Pedro packs the last few boxes before having to leave his apartment in New York. 12 years ago, Pedro and Ana had arrived in America from Portugal, in search of a dream. Now, Ana's voice describes, from the other side of the ocean, that same country to which they are returning. As the rooms are emptied, Pedro bids farewell to one life, welcoming another. But the dream that brought him will remain forever in the city that never sleeps, awaiting his return.

10.0

Vougas of the Ria de Aveiro

Jul 1, 2025

“In a meeting between history and the present, this docufiction takes us on a unique journey through the Ria de Aveiro, through the curious eyes of a child who discovers, for the first time, the Vouga Class boats. Guided by an adult, a symbol of the generations that preserve this centuries-old tradition, the child enters a world of memories, knowledge and traditions that resist the test of time. Between workshops and shipyards, conversations with master builders and walks along the waters of the estuary, the story unfolds like a bridge between generations. This docufiction interweaves reality and fiction, testimonies and dramatization, showing how cultural heritage is transmitted, not only through words, but through lived experiences. More than telling the story of the Vougas, this film celebrates those who keep them alive, and those who will one day carry them forward.”

6.3

Death: The Ultimate Horror

Jan 1, 1995

This grisly documentary presents horrifying journalistic footage of suicides, assassinations, bombings, mob hits, decapitations, and more in bloody detail. Not for the faint of heart.

0.0

Yesterday, Today

Jul 1, 2025

A box with a 1992 VHS and some film slides from a friends trip to Sri Lanka.

0.0

Las Toreras

Oct 2, 2023

Jackie Brutsche tries to unravel the dark secrets of her family and answer unanswered questions about her mother.

Born to Fight

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

Born to Fight Trailers