The first film by Francesco Rosi to receive general distribution in the United States, The Moment of Truth will almost certainly remain the definitive cinematic treatment of bullfighting. "Its theme, however, is not merely the ritual instant in which bull and matador face death, but the wretched Spanish peasant's ironic reward for the courage with which he faces the overwhelming challenges of daily life. Rosi's young hero (in actuality Spain's third ranking matador, Miguel Mateo Miguelin) escapes from arduous labor on his ancestral farm to six months of backbreaking, unremunerative toil in the city-until he decides to pit his nerve and strength against the bulls. His spectacular, unorthodox technique dazzles the crowds: Miguelin fights bulls seated, cornered, and on his knees; he places his open palm against their foreheads as they prepare to charge. Fortune's darling, he buys a villa and fast cars; women throw themselves at him; society courts him. To his impresario, however, he remains a valuable property: the crowds are eager to buy his courage; there is always another corrida. As his nerve wears thin, Miguelin begins to look forward to retirement. It comes, permanently, at 26, on the horns of a dying bull. The heart of The Moment of Truth is the social reality of Spain. The sense of the land-its yellow wheatfields, the hot, dusty roads, the hooded religious processions, the hard eyes of putas in working-class dives-pervades its images." Berkeley Cinema Guild