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 In July 2001, when a Madrid animal protection group, Animal Amnesty, learned of the torment that these animals endured for Almodovar’s movie, they launched a letter-writing campaign and filed a complaint with the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that the gruesome scenes violated an article in Madrid’s Domestic Animal Protection Law, which states that "the filming for film or television of scenes that involve cruelty, mistreatment, or suffering requires previous authorization from the relevant authorities … and that any injuries to the animal must be simulated."  Almodovar’s production company claimed that it was simply filming a bullfighting training session. However, photos were taken of Almodovar directing the matador during the filming. The production company also dismissed the animal protection law as only applying to "pets." According to the Associated Press, a study found that 20 percent of bulls are drugged before they step into the ring. Of 200 bulls, "1 in 5 had been given anti-inflammatory drugs, which mask injuries that could sap the animal’s strength." Former bullfighters have confessed that bulls are fed laxatives to debilitate them days before the fight, have the muscles cut in their necks to prevent them from lifting their heads up all the way, and usually have petroleum jelly smeared in their eyes to affect their vision.  There is no harm in discussing the violent bloody "sport" of bullfighting, just as there is no harm in talking about forest fires, but if you pay someone to make such things happen, as happened in the filming of the movie, that’s ethically indefensible. More than 40,000 bulls are barbarically slaughtered in rings in Spain each year. Now, the blood is on Almodovar’s hands for promoting bullfights. Truly progressive directors in Hollywood, from Wolfgang Petersen to Robert Redford to Terry Zwigoff, now use blue screen, animatronics, robotics, natural footage, costumes—you name it. Almodovar’s lack of innovation makes him about as modern as the Roman Coliseum.
What you can do: • Please boycott Almodovar’s Hable Con Ella when it runs in U.S. theaters, and encourage friends and family to do so as well. • Write to Almodovar and ask that he speak out against bullfighting and refuse to use animals in his films in the future.
• Order some of PETA’s "Stay Away From Bullfights" leaflets and distribute them at the opening of the Almodovar film in your area and during its entire run. • Send letters of protest to the following people:
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