Just Noise

Blood on the crown (2021): This beautiful film is based on actual events and presents the bloody fight by Maltese citizens for their independence against Britain in 1919. The acting performances are superb! There are four outstanding contributions from Malcolm McDowell, Harvey Keitel, Ian Virgo & Tom Prior. The story is powerful and so is the direction - Davide Ferrario successfully recreated that era! The cinematography is outstanding! Set in the beautiful country of Malta. Recommended !!!

This review is about the movie and not the story. The truth is, the movie was a bit bland. The acting by some of the Maltese actors was not at a professional level. But it's a low budget movie and these things are expected. They could have added some more important details to make the story more intriguing. The cinematography was good and the filming locations/scenery were beautiful, I'm sure you'll enjoy that. Overall I think that they did their best with the budget they had. It's worth a watch if you have some spare time, but on the other hand you won't be missing a lot if you skip this one.

Film was recommended by a friend and I gave it a go even though I knew it was a historical film about a story I was unfamiliar with. As a soldier myself I watched the movie and thought it was well done, especially the British soldiers and the Maltese citizens/rebels; depending on your perspective. The thing that immediately came out to me was the tough decisions that have to be made by people in service to or under orders from people who don't actually have to engage. Ian Virgo, as Corporal Bell, stood out to me as well as others but the thing that hit me was that this film was on my mind and I was still contemplating it for days. Anything that makes you think about these subjects is a positive to me in todays day and age of big budget, special effects and escapism. Definitely worth your time!

For its budget, this movie exceeded my expectation in terms of filming and storyline. I believe it is a seriously good production given the resources. It appears to be rather historically accurate too with a relatively balanced view of things. We saw it with our tween daughter who is studying these events as part of Maltese history. What I could not understand is the need to pepper a historical drama.with raw Maltese vulgar language as if it were Beverly Hills Cop. I believe it was possible to use less vulgar language and still express the strong emotions in the movie. If you are watching this with your Maltese tween (the English subtitles tend to limit the translation of the colourful Maltese vulgar vernacular to the F word most of the time), be prepared for it.

Enjoyable film, based on true events, beautifully shot with top draw cinematography, and solid performances from some great talent including Malcolm McDowell, Harvey Keitel, with a stand out performance from Ian Virgo as Corporal Bell.