Carlos Saura’s The Hunt is a brutal portrait of toxic masculinity and class privilege. Existing as stand-ins for the corruption and decadence at the heart of fascist Spain, it would be all too easy to make each of the four men in this hunting party carbon copies of each other, flattening them each into caricature. It’s impressive seeing the ways that Saura differentiates each of them, giving them all fully developed and richly drawn characters. The use of voiceover throughout is exceptional – by handing the voiceover off between the four primary characters, it helps us drill deeper into their petty grievances, their hopes and fears, their insecurities. And all of this ramps up the always escalating tension that runs throughout the film. The rabbit hunt is a brutal and a difficult scene, but the repetition of images and quick editing rhythms conveys a grotesquerie and a decadence, a stomach-churning disregard for life that had taken hold among the elite within Franco’s Spain. Whether the men are drinking, shooting for sport, looking through their magazines at pinup models, or leering at underage girls, we’re constantly presented with their avarice and greed. The gut-wrenching finale is explosive – the logical outcome of this unchecked sense of entitlement and arrogance. It may be a brutal film, but it’s incredibly honest.