The Book of Revelation

Hands down worst Australian movie I've seen. This film is ultra garbage. Tries to be arty. Tries to be deep. Fails.

This film stinks.

Well they said it was more about being thought provoking than being a box office hit and they were right. The Book of Revelation was incredibly hard to sit through - both because of its slow pace and its confronting themes - but so very worthwhile.

Beautifully crafted, the movie is not for everyone, especially if you've been the victim of sexual abuse.

The movie sets out to explore a range of issues and themes and it wasn't until the day after I saw it (today) that many of them dawned on me (and even then it was only prompted by reading an interview with the Director, Ana Kokkinos). I suspect that I'll be experiencing more of these revelations (pun intended) for quite some time.

One of the themes of "The Book of Revelation" is sex and power. There are some very confronting and disturbing scenes where the male lead is sexually abused by three cloaked and masked women. One of my female friends who I saw the movie with said afterward that she didn't feel any of the discomfort she usually feels when she sees a rape scene on the screen and wondered if it was purely because it was a man being raped. This is one of those areas that the movie gets you thinking about.

It's hard to watch but I highly recommend seeing it.

Many questions arise about the making of this film. The first of which is: Why make a film that plays out as little more than an awkward female fantasy? It's one thing to leave an audience with issues to discuss about a film's intent, it's something entirely different to go into the process of writing a script which fails to adequately address real human issues before they are rendered on the screen.

Why the outrageously melodramatic and often comical soundtrack? Why the excessive and frequently clunky dialogue? Why is the lead character's girlfriend one of the hooded abductors? What purpose is there to turning the lead character's freedom from abduction into a joke by having him complete his "mission"? (This is a classic Little Aussie Film moment. Resort to quirky comedy at the most inappropriate moment.) Why so many scenes where absolutely nothing happens? (This accounts for approximately 15 minutes of the film, which is at least 30 minutes too long.) Why, if a man is imprisoned for so many days, does he not endeavor to make a serious attempt at escape?

The Director, who co-wrote the script, has failed on many counts to deliver a satisfactory story.

Dave Garver, Australia.

While walking to buy cigarettes, the professional dancer Daniel (Tom Long) is abducted and forced to have kinky sex along many days by three hooded women. When he is released, the director of his company Isabel (Greta Scacchi) has already replaced him in the play and his girlfriend gives a cold reception to him. The disturbed and humiliated Daniel leaves the dance company and travels obsessed to seek out the abductors. Daniel has sex with many women that he suspects that might be the kidnappers.

"The Book of Revelation" is a weird movie with a promising beginning that loses the initial power and becomes a sort of too long erotic soap- opera or soft-porn chic. The production is classy, the cover of the DVD is awesome but the characters are not well-developed and the trauma of Daniel seems to be excessive since most of the men would fantasize with the dream-situation that he was submitted – to become sexual object of three sexy women. The melodramatic development with the illness of Isabel does not add any value to the plot; the open conclusion is very disappointing and there are no explanations for the motive of the women or the title. It is very clear that the screenplay about a man's feelings was written by a woman. It was good to see the still beautiful Greta Scacchi again and her make-up in the end is impressive. There is a saying in Portuguese that could be translated to English as follows: "If the rape is inevitable, relax and come." Daniel should have done this and spared me of watching almost two hours of a pointless story. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "O Livro das Revelações" ("The Book of Revelations")

This is a film that comes along every once in a while, and you have no idea if you like it or not. After attending the world premiere as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival, I left the cinema feeling numb and in a desperate state of trying to figure out how I felt about the film. I am still no more enlightened, and this is a credit to Ana, who challenges and questions her audience as much as she does her characters.

The film will not please all. It contains full-on nudity and sex scenes, but in the end I felt that they were all appropriate and relevant to the story. In addition, if you are after a well-rounded thriller with a clear beginning, middle and end, you will probably be disappointed.

What this film is, though, is a stunning portrait of a man who is broken down and humiliated, whose life is thrown into disarray for the pleasure of others. Ana has created a stark, honest film, and Tom Long brings an incredibly withheld brevity and aura to the role. His emotions are so internalized and conflicting that the finale to the film seems all the more real.

I applaud Ana for taking the Australian film industry somewhere it has never been before and will likely not go again for some time. See this film and make your own mind up.