Word: rosi
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...secret Yes in his semi-documentary technique, his legacy from the post-war Italian neo-realist film-makers, coupled with Rosi's own sensitivity to detail. During the bullring scenes particularly, Rosi's skillful use of faces in the crowd provides a visual comment on the action which raises the film far above the newsreel level. Or, is another instance, Rosi places Miguelin outside the Madrid ring selling souvenirs and records the scens when a policeman, unaware that he was on candid camera, chases the poor boy away...
...Rosi's contrasts between the actual and the staged shots parallels the central contrast of the film, that between the public image of a matador and the man who fights bulls for a living. This device is largely responsible for the effectiveness of the scenes in the ring; because so much of the film is not staged, you can never be sure that Miguelin will not be actually gored at any moment...
Critics have contended that Rosi's message in Moment of Truth amounts to a thorough disgust with bullfighting. I, for one, think his target is more specific. Rosi is clearly enraptured with the gracefulness of the sport, and he takes pains to elaborate on the courage of Miguelin which allows him to rise above the other would-be matadors. Rosi also seems to enjoy the ritual which goes along with every bullfight and which accounts for the extraordinary beauty of his film...
...Rosi is foremost a social critic, and I believe that modern bullfighting for him serves as one example of a malaise which he observes in present-day society. The thrust of his film is directed not against bullfighting per se, as evidenced by his highly sympathetic portrayal of an idealistic old matador, but against the kind of professionalism which Miguelin represents...
...Rosi, in other words, is attacking the Horatio Alger type of matador like Miguelin. Such a matador enters the ring for the first time late in adolescence and proceeds to tailor his style to the crowd. He has not grown up on a bull farm and he has little knowledge of the animal he must fight. Thus when the first wound comes, there is only the threat of the poorhouse to sustain him in the ordeal of his comeback...