Coto de caza

This slow-paced crime thriller was seen by some critics as a plea by Jordi Grau in favour of the death penalty. He categorically denies that.

Generally this film is uncomfortable to watch. In many ways the outcome is predictable, as is the ordeal Ms Serna's character is going through, but the predictability and the slow pace somehow make it worse. It is like falling out of an airplane at ten thousand feet without a parachute. You know what is going to happen and the anticipation of the inevitable gruesome outcome makes you wish that it is over sooner rather than later.

Interestingly, the film has much stronger female than male characters, an unusual attribute for movies (not counting TV movies) of this genre. The film centers around the lawyer played by Assumpta Serna, and she amicable pulls off the performance required to hold everything together.

Adela (Assumpta Serna) is an honest pacifist lawyer specialized in Criminal Law and happily married to Jorge (Víctor Valverde). She is dedicated to defending criminals with total conviction of what she does and says about personal hardships and poverty is what leads them to crime and she does not think in natural evil. She is a lawyer with her own convictions that she believes in justice. Assumpta Serna competently plays the lawyer who passionately defends criminal scum who she believes commit crimes due to unfortunate life circumstances. However, her latest defendants have no qualms about pointing her out as her next victim. They steal her car, find the keys to her country villa and decide to rob her place at the next opportunity. Unfortunately, Adele's family shows up at the villa in the middle of a robbery, but then things take a turn for the worse during the home invasion.

Jorge Grau's Hunting Ground is a chilling story of revenge brimming with social commentary and underlying political criticism. At the heart of 'Coto de Caza' (international title: Code of Hunting or Hunting Ground) is a film that explores crime and punishment, and the effects both have on society. The narrative revolves around a defense attorney who believes that all criminals are redeemable, and that the punishment imposed on those convicted is counterproductive. This naivety leads her to the Mauri gang, one of whose members she defends, stealing her car with her personal belongings and preparing a hit on the family country house that has a private hunting reserve. From there, she is forced to go against everything she believes in when it becomes clear that her only way to survive her tormentors is to become one of them. The film turns out to be a crossover between the sub-genres of ' Home Invasion' , 'quinquis' and 'revenge', like ¨Michael Winner's Death Wish¨ with Charles Bronson, although I think it follows more the style of ¨I Spit sobre tu tumba¨ ('I spit on your grave' in its two versions: 1977 and 2010), adding some very strong scenes that would make ¨Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left (1972)¨pale. Along with the excellent starring Assumpta Serna, other good actors appear providing adequate performances, such as: Víctor Valverde, Luis Hostalot, Montserrat Salvador, José Sacristán, Adolfo Thous, Manuel Pereiro, among others. From a production point of view, there is no area in which 'Coto de Caza' does not deliver and even achieve certain slenderness in the violent thriller. The premise of crime and punishment is adequately realized and the director does a great job of maintaining tension throughout. With the ending providing an interesting conclusion to the events that have unfolded.

The film was professionally directed by Jorge Grau, although it developed with some ups and downs. Grau worked as a radio scriptwriter before embarking on his film career and was also a playwright and painter. He was a versatile filmmaker who was immersed in most film genres. He began studying at the 'Centro Sperimentale' film school in Rome, Italy. In Grau there is always a good filmmaker, who uncorked himself in the sixties and seventies with truly modern cinema, developing what was not widespread then, such as high-profile plots. Jorge Grau was an artisan, but he is best remembered for a couple of horror films that he directed, thus he made all kinds of genres such as Drama, suspense, comedy, such as: "The Stranger on Cruz del Sur Street", "The punyalada", "El spontaneo", "La siesta", "Death penalty", "Tutset Street", "Love Letters from a Nun", "Club Girls", ¨la Trastienda¨, "Acteon". Being his two greatest hits within the horror genre, such as: ¨Bloody Ceremony¨ (¨Ceremonia sangrienta¨,¨The Legend of Blood Castle¨, ¨The Femaler Butcher" or "Countess Bathory") and especially the horror classic, ¨No profanar el sueño de los muertos¨ (1974) ("Living dead in the Manchester Morgue"). ¨Hunting Ground¨ rating (1983): 6/10. Acceptable and decent film, in fact internationally and particularly in the United States it has a certain status of a "Cult Movie".

COTO DE CAZA (1983)

This is one of the best films I ever saw and I can't help but express my total indignation to the fact that filmmaker Jorge Grau doesn't have the attention he deserves. Only a master to conceive such a impactful work of art. This is a movie that couldn't be produced today with all the correctness imposed to art in general, and I will not take a position in relation to the discussion raised by the story. I believe that cinema must be evaluated not by any moral criteria, but by the excellence of its artistic conception. And what we have here is a perfect production.

Everything works wonderfully well. The script is carefully structured and the character development respects coherence and cohesion, leading us to immerse ourselves in the plot without any hesitation. All this is helped by a fluid editing and an impecable job by all the cast. I was speechless with the perfornance of Assumpta Serna. Previously, I had seen her in a small role in the bomb "Wild Orchid" (Zalman King, 1989) what made me have a negative impression about her, but I was totally wrong.

The disturbing violent scenes will put many viewers off, but they are vital to the efficience of its message. This is not an excercise in exploitation, but a serious drama that hurts our sensibilities precisely because it exposes how fragile our system of values can be. Only open and mature minds are prepared to this, but this is a movie that needs to be rediscovered and appreciated in its uncut format.

After watching the excellent "No Profanar El Sueño De Los Muertos" (1974), I developed an interest in the work of Jorge Grau. Now, after "Coto De Caza", I have no doubt that he is among my favorite authors.

A very interesting incursion by Jorge Grau in the Quinqui trend (a Spanish young delinquents subgenre), that switches the traditional point of view of these films from the aggressors to the victims. That makes the movie a little more conventional (it's much easier to empathize with the victims) and with the social message more prominent, but the powerful direction of Grau, the dark mood and the excellent acting all around makes up for it. It's a slow burner but with a big finale.

Coto de Caza is an obscure Spanish gem and one that is well worth seeing. The film is a bit like exploitation flicks such as The Last House on the Left and The House on the Edge of the Park, although the point this time is not just to see innocent people put in danger. Let Sleeping Corpses Lie director Jorge Grau takes the helm and the film is clearly taking a swipe at the legal system that often lets criminals get away with their crimes. For this reason, it might not appeal too much to exploitation fans as there's not a great deal of sleaze or nastiness, but those who are looking for a little more than just exploitation will find plenty to like here! The plot focuses on Adela, a defence lawyer for criminals. She gets a couple off the hook and they repay her by stealing her car. After finding the keys to her country villa, they naturally decide to rob the place; but trouble starts the lawyer's family turn up, and in the struggle; the husband ends up getting killed. However, this is just the start of the unfortunate lawyer's ordeal...

The point of the film is actually very well expressed as, at its heart, Coto de Caza is a depiction of the idea that if you don't put criminals in jail, they will commit more crime. This film was made over twenty years ago in Spain, but its social commentary is certainly relevant to modern day Britain and probably elsewhere in the world too, making the film poignant even today. The plot moves rather slowly and not a great deal happens in the first half of the film. However, the film is never boring and the scenes at the beginning succeed in building the characters and setting the scene which does benefit the story later on. As mentioned, there not a lot of sleaze in the film; but that doesn't hinder it too much as there's enough going on elsewhere and the action we do get treated to is generally very good; a sequence involving fire towards the end is certainly worth the wait too. Overall, Coto de Caza is an excellent little film and really is well worth seeing. It's also a shame that it's so hard to get hold of as this film is ripe for re-discovery!