Wednesday,
August
30,
2006
Madrid
(Reuters):
The
triumphs
of
the
bullfighter
Manolete
and
his
tragic
early
death
in
1947
have
become
legendary
in
Spain,
but
his
eyebrow-raising
relationship
with
actress
Lupe
Sino
has
been
largely
ignored.
A
new
film
with
Hollywood
stars
Adrien
Brody
and
Penelope
Cruz
is
about
to
fill
this
gap
in
Manolete's
otherwise
well-documented
life
story.
Manolete's
death
at
just
30
years
old
stunned
Spain,
still
reeling
from
a
bitter
civil
war
in
the
late
1930s.
Historians
and
biographers
say
the
matador
helped
meet
the
national
need
for
diversion
and
relief
in
the
age
of
fascist
dictator
Francisco
Franco,
when
bullfighters
were
like
the
rock
stars
of
today.
Manolete's
biographers
wrote
that
Sino
had
a
shady
reputation
and
was
said
to
be
after
his
money,
but
underlying
their
words
was
a
basic
hostility
to
women
in
the
bullfighting
world
--
graphically
described
by
Joselito,
another
legendary
matador.
''The
worst
enemy
a
bullfighter
can
have
is
a
woman.
Women
are
sweet
wine
which
goes
to
your
head
easily
and
bends
your
legs.
And
to
be
a
bullfighter
you
have
to
be
strong
(...)
with
legs
of
steel,''
Joselito,
a
forerunner
to
Manolete,
was
quoted
as
saying
in
a
biography
by
Francisco
Narbona.
Bullfighting
has
long
been
considered
in
Spanish-speaking
countries
as
an
art
rather
than
a
sport,
and
an
almost
exclusively
male
preserve.
Manolete's
mother
and
his
professional
circle
disliked
Sino,
partly
because
of
the
bullfighting
lore
that
women
and
bulls
do
not
mix.
As
Manolete
bled
to
death
after
his
fatal
goring
on
August
28,
1947,
Sino
was
barred
from
seeing
him
on
''doctor's
orders''
in
case
the
matador
tried
to
marry
her
in
his
final
moments.
Even
then
matadors
earned
a
fortune,
and
a
deathbed
marriage
would
have
snatched
the
juicy
inheritance
from
his
family.
Despite
efforts
to
blacken
her
character,
it
is
widely
accepted
that
Manolete
and
Sino
were
besotted
with
one
another.
''There
was
a
bit
of
an
upset
when
he
went
to
Mexico
with
her,
because
they
were
living
together
and
it
was
said
she
was
a
loose
woman
...
but
they
were
very
much
in
love,'' Antonete,
a
74-year-old
retired
bullfighter,
told
Reuters
in
an
interview.
Manolete's
closest
friends
tried
to
persuade
him
to
leave
her,
but
photographs
show
them
looking
relaxed
and
happy
together.
Director
Menno
Meyjes,
better
known
as
the
scriptwriter
of
''The
Color
Purple''
and
''Indiana
Jones
and
the
Last
Crusade'',
says
the
film
is
about
a
love
triangle
of
sorts.
''She
is
in
love
with
him,
he
is
in
love
with
her,
but
he
is
also
in
love
with
death,''
he
says
in
an
interview
released
as
a
preview
to
the
movie.
Filming
of
''Manolete''
ended
in
July,
and
the
premiere
is
due
next
year.
''He
meets
this
marvellous
woman
who
tries
to
seduce
him
to
separate
him
from
the
dance
with
death
which
is
part
of
his
life,
his
identity
...
And
that
creates
enormous
tension
in
their
relationship,''
he
said.
Meyjes
said
he
became
fascinated
by
Manolete's
face
--
Adrien
Brody
looks
uncannily
like
him
--
because
he
was
so
tragic-looking.
When
researching
the
matador's
life
in
Spain,
he
asked
about
Lupe
Sino
and
was
repeatedly
told
she
was
a
''loose
woman''.
''However,
at
the
end
of
my
trip
I
met
some
people
who
were
friends
of
Manolete
and
they
told
me
that
he
was
always
asking
her
to
marry
him,
and
she
would
never
accept.
Then
I
started
to
think
what
a
fascinating
person
she
must
have
been,''
he
said.
Experts
say
Manolete
himself
became
the
stuff
of
legend
not
only
because
of
his
innovation
in
the
ring,
but
because
he
made
bullfighting
more
popular
than
ever
as
a
spectacle,
before
the
arrival
of
television.
''He
drew
crowds
at
a
time
when
Spain
was
full
of
hunger
and
misery,
in
the
years
after
the
war.
People
would
say
'I'm
going
to
pawn
my
mattress
so
I
can
see
Manolete,'''
laughed
Antonete.
Antonete
was
inspired
by
Manolete
at
the
age
of
9.
''Manolete
started
to
use
his
left
hand
as
well
as
his
right
--
which
is
now
commonplace
--
and
he
impressed
everyone
with
his
nobility
inside
the
ring
and
out.
He
used
to
fight
in
villages,
not
just
at
the
big
bullrings,
because
he
used
to
say
that
humble
people
deserved
to
see
a
bullfight
too.''
Manolete
died
just
as
Antonete
was
about
to
make
his
debut
in
Madrid,
aged
16.
''It
left
me
feeling
empty.
I
thought
twice
about
whether
to
go
ahead
after
a
bull
had
killed
the
best
matador,''
he
said.
Documentary
footage,
shot
just
over
a
month
before
Manolete
died,
shows
the
bullfighter
in
his
'suit
of
lights'
facing
a
half-tonne
bull
in
Madrid,
one
of
his
legs
drenched
with
blood
from
a
goring.
Manolete
insisted
on
completing
the
necessary
''manoletinas''
he
had
created
--
sending
the
bull
swirling
around
him,
using
his
cape
and
sword
but
with
his
left
hand
behind
his
back.
Having
dominated
and
dizzied
the
animal,
the
matador
lunged,
pushing
his
sword
deep
into
its
neck
and
piercing
its
heart
in
the
final
and
most
difficult
act
of
the
''corrida''.
Only
then
did
he
allow
himself
to
be
helped
from
the
ring.
That
was
a
dramatic
preview
of
the
bullfight
weeks
later
in
Linares
in
Andalusia,
where
he
was
fatally
gored
by
the
bull
Islero
--
famous
in
its
own
right
after
that
moment
--
just
as
he
sent
his
sword
deep
into
the
animal's
neck.
Manolete
died
from
the
bleeding
24
hours
later.
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