For Rebecca--El Cordobes

The brilliance of El Cordobes was his ability to "read" an animals mind, to stop for that moment, and leave himself exposed as you saw him doing in the you tubes. That "read" is nothing mythical as some would have you believe, it is a pure understanding/comprehension after countless years of study. It is communicating with an animal using their "language", not yours of sound. The language of no sound, no spoken word, just a sense/feeling of what they are saying/thinking.
As a young boy, El Cordobes used to sneak into surrounding farms late at night, and "fight" the young bulls, until somebody would catch him, and then he would just go to another farm. Because of his place/stature in society of being a peon/peasant he could not get an opportunity to learn to be a matador or take his alternativa. One day while he was at a corrida, he jumped over the wall, into the ring and started fighting the bull. The crowd loved his courage, and
the matador was so impressed with his "chutzpa" they allowed him to learn with them. In 1971 or 72 at the height of his fame and popularity, a young man jumped into the bull ring while El Cordobes was working. He immediately drew the bull away, and tried to get some one to take the young man out. The crowd started chanting no, no, give him a chance, as you had a chance, let him try his hand. To them it was all a big joke in reference to El Cordobes doing the same thing years earlier. He backed away at the crowds insistence, and the bull killed the young man. The fans and press blamed El Cordobes and scorned him for letting it happen. It bothered him so much that he retired, and went into seclusion.(look at the video of him practicing. That is a sad old man, compared to the smiling youth on the other tapes.) It is why there are few pictures available of him anyplace including the internet. He came out of retirement last year at the age of, I think 73, by public demand for one last corrida in Spain. That is what the video was of him preparing for. In addition, to the movie there have been a great number of television specials on his life/career in Spain. He is a great friend of Julio Eglesias, and his son, Benito attempted a career in the bull ring, working also as El Cordobes, but it wasn't to memorable and the public never really accepted him.

Hemingway said, what makes bullfighting a true art is that every person seeing it interprets it differently, like looking at a painting.

The third tercio, or the last act of a bullfight is the one people, who don't understand the historical and religious meaning of it, have the biggest problem with. I see it as the most important aspect of the whole spectacle. It is when the matador supposedly has enough knowledge of the bulls movements and instincts, from watching/observing it through the first and second tercio, to get it to perform as a partner in a dance that ultimately ends in the bulls death. That is when the matador completes the task of the fight, or the purpose. That is when the matator proves that art and intelligence are superior to brute force and instinct, and those qualities that make humanity higher then animals are those qualities that allow man to survive a contest with an animal that has many more natural advantages.

That moment of complete comprehension, of "knowing" what is being thought, without a word being spoken as El Cordobes is illustrating above, I have experienced with a tiger, an elephant, and a horse. I hope to have the honor of that moment with a bull someday.