Flesh And Blood

Synopsis: Martin (Rutger Hauer) leads his mercenary soldiers into battle but is double-crossed when he hands his lord Arnolfini (Fernando Hilbeck) a victory. Banished from the city and left for dead in the harsh countryside, Martin and his men are out for revenge. They inadvertently kidnap a young maiden Agnes (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who is betrothed to Stephen (Tom Burlinson) the son of their enemy and haul themselves up in a castle. Stephen consequently leads an army to rescue his love and attack the castle using a mind-bending selection of inventions, not realising the possibility that Agnes may have fallen for her captor.

In the mid-80s Paul Verhoeven was at the height of his success in Europe with films like Soldier of Orange, Spetters and The Fourth Man. He then decided to make his first English language film Flesh and Blood starring his favourite leading man, Rutger Hauer.

Flesh and Blood is a rollicking period drama, basically a refashioning of in medieval garb and set in Europe in 1510 when apparently rape, pillage and social chaos were the order of the day. It is a filthy, grimy look at the era. Every character is morally bankrupt and even its heroes are willing to to let ends justify their murderous ways. For this reason the film does feature some shockingly gruesome moments; chunks of bubonic plague ridden dog are catapulted into a castle, rocket-powered spears are driven into faces and the sexual predilection of the rampaging soldiers is unsettlingly displayed. As always. Verhoeven doesn't pull any punches. When he went to Hollywood his cocktail of sex and violence led to huge box office for films like Robocop, Basic Instinct and notoriety for Hollow Man and the much-maligned Showgirls. Watching Flesh and Blood, however, makes his US output look like clean wholesome fun. What other film that you can think of features a romantic scene that takes place under two hanging rotting corpses?

The cast is a mixed bunch. Hauer, as always, is excellent and certainly looks the part as the soldiers' leader, Jennifer Jason Leigh doesn't have much driving her character apart from being constantly abused and Susan Tyrrell gives a deliriously over-the-top performance as the group's resident whore. She pretty much screams and mugs her way through every second of her screen time. It's strange to see two Aussie stalwarts amongst this rag-bag of a cast. The Man From Snowy River, Tom Burlinson and the legendary Jack Thompson both exude star quality although Burlinson's 80s bouffant hairdo looks as out-of-place as his accent is wobbly. The production was a nightmare of mixed nationalities at war with each other and Hauer and Verhoeven never spoke to each other again.

 

 

Want more about this film?

    

Want something different?