Flesh + Blood

What a great movie! The first work in english language by dutch director Paul Verhoeven, 'Flesh & Blood' can be entertaining as well as a greatly enjoyable history lesson. Sure, ceptics will say that there's still plenty of hollywoodesque interpretation of the subject, and certain 80's fashions badly prevail in an oderwise virgin melier for such campiness. But alas, 'Flesh & Blood' still is one of the few movies that actually bring the European medieval world to life with a certain amount of accuracy and panache, another good example being 'Andrei Rublev'. There's actually little Hollywood involvement (the whole thing is an international production), and to make it pitch perfect it only needed to be spoken in Italian, since the italian setting. The casting though couldn't have been more spot on. Yes, Verhoeven is drawing from an old school canvas of classical and mythological characters, references and situations. But the actors look at home with their roles. With the mise-en-cene nothing seems out of place. It is full blown middle ages life as usual. In my opinion an enormous directing feat, as the production was complicated. This is what make good movies great. You get out of 'Flesh & Blood' after being exhilarated, disgusted, angry, happy, fallen in love with Jennifer Jason Leigh, and you'll see your own life with different eyes from then on.