Review: Flesh + Blood

Set in ‘Western Europe’ in the Middle Ages, Lord Arnolfini (Fernando Hilbeck) has his castle taken from him, and hires a motley band of mercenaries to take the castle back for him with the promise of 24 hours of free looting. After much killing, raping, and pillaging by the rowdy brood, Arnolfini goes back on his word and orders cavalry leader Hawkwood (Jack Thompson) to drive the mercenaries off the premises penniless. Hawkwood’s lieutenant Martin (Rutger Hauer) feels utterly betrayed, whilst Hawkwood retires to a quiet life after accidentally wounding a young nun whom he later marries. Meanwhile, Martin is elected new leader of the mercenaries after resident holy man the Cardinal (Ronald Lacey) takes the unearthing of a statue of St. Martin of Tours as a sign from God that Martin is the man to lead them. Tom Burlinson plays Arnolfini’s science-minded son Steven, betrothed to Agnes (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who is kidnapped by Martin and his followers who subsequently attempt to gang rape her. Bruno Kirby, Brion James, Susan Tyrrell, and John Dennis Johnston play several of Martin’s followers.

 

The majority of the world wasn’t ready in 1985 for this rowdy, anti-hero Medieval flick from director Paul Verhoeven (“RoboCop”, “Basic Instinct”, “Starship Troopers”) and his co-writer Gerard Soeteman (Verhoeven’s “Soldier of Orange”). It’s not a film that goes light on the raping and pillaging and violence. However, in my view this is a compelling, if slightly long film that deserves more accolades. It’s very well-done save for an uneven performance by Jennifer Jason Leigh. If you managed to get through “Game of Thrones” and “The Last Duel” without any major stomach complaints, you’ll probably get through this once-controversial film relatively fine and hopefully find it as interesting as I do.

 

The action is good, rowdy fun and the score by Basil Poledouris (“Conan the Barbarian”, “RoboCop”) is typically rousing, majestic stuff. Shot by future filmmaker Jan de Bont (director of “Twister”), it looks terrific – muddy, rugged, and rainy. I bet it wasn’t a fun shoot. Rutger Hauer has the charismatic rogue thing down pat, he might remind you a bit of Kirk Douglas in “The Vikings”. Aussie Jack Thompson has one of his best international parts here as a former military commander who tries to retire to the quiet life with a young nun he unintentionally injured in battle. I really think Jack deserved to get more overseas work. Ronald Lacey is perfect as the resident holy man who is willing to stab anyone who disagrees with his interpretation of ‘God’s will’. Pretty much all of the characters here are either villainous or complex to some degree. It’s a morally shady worldview where religion and nobility are not favourably looked upon. Susan Tyrrell only knew one way as an actress – wildly chewing the scenery – and thankfully her rather trashy character here is within that wheelhouse. She seems to be having a hoot of a time, and you end up feeling a bit sorry for her character who clearly isn’t terribly well-respected by anybody, including herself.

 

On the downside of things, Tom Burlinson and Jennifer Jason Leigh aren’t up to the task handed to them here. Canadian-born Aussie actor Burlinson is merely OK as the young romantic lead, but doesn’t have all that much screen presence and the role is pretty dull. Leigh meanwhile is given one of the film’s most interesting and complex characters and handles it in very uneven fashion. She’s not awful, just awkward and uneven. Her best scene from an acting perspective is actually the film’s most controversial. Although the rape is not quite as explicit as your memory of it has you believing if you saw it years ago, it’s still rather unpleasant. It is however a very interesting scene from the Leigh character’s perspective because it’s the scene in which her character starts to show a transition from passive victim into someone who ends up manipulating the Hauer character, even making a bit of a fool out of him subsequently. This girl is a lot less naïve and more clever than you initially give her credit for.

 

In addition to the character complexity, what I really liked about the film was its view of religion and superstition. There’s an overhanging air of inevitable doom to be brought down upon Hauer and his men here. A curse if you will. I will say though, that the film is just a touch too long. It’s not fatal, but the pace drags a bit in the back end. I’m also not sure the film finds the right ending for one particular character. You’ll know what I mean if/when you’ve seen the film. Still, those are minor issues really in a pretty strong film otherwise.

 

Classic storytelling in some ways but with a very dark, no-holds-barred European sensibility, this Medieval film will not be for all tastes. While I don’t think it’s a great film, I found it an interesting, if disturbing one. A grim film with few if any clean-cut characters, I can understand why it flopped initially. However, this film deserves more eyes on it. Just be sure to bring a strong stomach with you.

 

Rating: B-