The Book of Revelation

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.

"The book of revelation" is one of those films that make you feel you had a great loss. It has a very interesting & original story, the right mood and some brilliant actors. However, one can not escape the feeling that something went completely wrong with the entire piece.

The film tells the bizarre story of Daniel, a dancer that's been kidnapped by 3 women and has been sexually abused by them for 12 days. well, I must say that for some men this is a dream rather than a nightmare... but on the serious side, I was quite disappointed by the kidnappers and the director, Ana Kokinnos. because as long as I remember, they were trying to make a thriller here, so where's the thrill?? the abusement scenes are not that terrible, but much more on the erotic side, what makes this film look as a cheap sexploitation based movie. Sexual provocacy was probably much more important for the director than a real delve into the humiliated man position thing. That goes for both male and female characters and scenes. I am not against nudity, but a film like that has got to have another dimension to it, except the sexual and kinky one, and this dimension lacks from the entire movie. plus, add the very expressionist lighting and photography, and the result is just another artsy fartsy film that has the appeal of a more serious one.

We don't really know anything about Daniel. when I think about the movie now, I dare to ask: was this all a dream? what about his relationship with one of the dancers from the group? they live together, but are they married? did he have a romantic or sexual relationship with his dancing coach, the beautiful and mature Isabelle? was he suffering a mental disorder prior to the kidnapping? we don't have answers to these questions in the film. you could say it's OK, and in a way it is OK, but not really...

But not everything is wrong here. actor Tom Long gives a monumental performance, both as a dancer and the tormented Daniel, who tries to reveal the identity of his lady kidnappers, and to restore his own mental life. and of course the wonderful Greta Scacchi, in a great supporting role.

To sum things up: if you're looking for a good thriller for your weekly DVD night, get something else. if you've already taken this film be prepared for some hot nudity, expressionist misery and mental torment scenes, fake provocacy and an unsuccessful attempt to create a Michael Haneke like thriller, where the hero is not the mystery itself, but the main character's way to deal with what happened to him. and believe me, there are better films than this one. for instance, "Cache", by the original Haneke himself, or "Swimming pool", by Francois Ozon.

Well, we are all used to watching torture flicks where men torture women; MARTYRS, GUINEA PIG, AUGUST UNDERGROUND etc... Now how about we turn the tables around and have the women torture the man? Nice idea, but this movie has a few problems.

First off, this movie is pretty tame compared to the other Torture flicks, but that does not matter. What matter is that the movie really drags at the end, it seems so forced and out of place. When the torture scenes ended, i just stopped caring, because that was the point of the whole movie; why and how did these 3 women torture our hero?

This movie deals with a lot of themes: Paranoia, Trauma, Anxiety, Fear and such... And i can say that the movie for the most part is solid. However, after all the torture scenes ended, the movie just feels so forced, the movie didn't really have to be nearly 2 hours long. I am sure they could of made it shorter like 1 hour 30 minutes long and it would of been better.

Ultimately i can sort of recommend this movie, it is better then Guinea Pig, and August Underground (Since this movie actually has a plot), but it's not as good as Martyrs or Hostel.

Well, we are all used to watching torture flicks where men torture women; MARTYRS, GUINEA PIG, AUGUST UNDERGROUND, etc... Now how about we turn the tables around and have the women torture the man? Nice idea, but this movie has a few problems.

First off, this movie is pretty tame compared to the other Torture flicks, but that does not matter. What matter is that the movie really drags at the end, it seems so forced and out of place. When the torture scenes ended, I just stopped caring, because that was the point of the whole movie; why and how did these 3 women torture our hero?

This movie deals with a lot of themes: Paranoia, Trauma, Anxiety, Fear, and such... And i can say that the movie for the most part is solid. However, after all the torture scenes ended, the movie just feels so forced, the movie didn't really have to be nearly 2 hours long. I am sure they could of made it shorter like 1 hour 30 minutes long and it would of been better.

Ultimately i can sort of recommend this movie, it is better than Guinea Pig, and August Underground (Since this movie actually has a plot), but it's not as good as Martyrs or Hostel.

I just wish that they made a movie in that we see the past and future in the start and that in the end, we see the torture, I think that would be way more impactful than what we just had. (That's just my opinion). Just like how in Martyrs, the last scenes are the torture scenes of Anna, which is what makes the movie have such an impact.

You'd be forgiven if you thought that this movie was nothing more than the final chapter of the biblical text. Although itself based on a novel, this is a far cry from doomsday, though for the lead character, his life has been made a living hell for the sheer psychological and physical torture he goes through even after his unfortunate ordeal. And it does provoke some thought into the issues it put on screen, though it doesn't provide any answers, which I suppose in a real world equivalent, it's likely to remain under wraps too, for the shame.

There are many movies out there which deal with and center around the topic of rape. But this would probably mark the first time I've watched a movie where the male lead gets set upon by a gang of three masked females, who for the protection of their identity, prefer to keep their kinky sexual exploits from perhaps each other as well. In fact, their dressing is so well designed, that they have openings for their eyes, and a flap to expose their mouths for the purpose of providing pleasure. And being clothed for the most parts, it prevents the victim from trying to identify any tell-tale signs like tattoos, birthmarks or moles.

Tom Long (no offence, but what a name, really) plays Daniel, a renowned dance practitioner under the tutelage of Isabel (Greta Scacchi). To Isable, Daniel is her star, and she fiercely guards her protégé, up until he decided to go around a corner and buy a packet of cigarettes for his fiancé, that he gets kidnapped, and the production has to rely on a stand-in. Daniel of course returns, but returns as a changed man. Meek, irritable, and with a feeling that he's lost his skills. He becomes obsessed, and we slowly learn why - he's become a victim of a gang rape by an all female trio, who in their own words, just want to see him perform a dance for them privately, failing which the punishment is... rape.

To justify its R21 rating, we're given a full blown account for Daniel's inexplicable disappearance from the normal world he's used to, and now find himself chained to a dark basement like an animal, responding to the whims and fancies of his captors as they take turns to deal with him up his rear. And to a hunky, muscular guy, I suppose this would be a breaking down of resistance, as the power play between the captors and the captive turn psychological, and at times blurring the lines whether Daniel is actually enjoying his current situation.

Wait a minute, who in the right mind would enjoy being in such a situation? Here's where the crux of some of the issues are. Can a man be raped (obviously if against his wishes, yes), and what's with the stigma of having such a stain? Is it hard to imagine the kind of reaction for a guy to make a report and say "Excuse me Mr officer, but I've been raped for days repeatedly by three women wearing masks"? While we can easily understand and sympathize with female victims, could we say and feel the same for a male one, especially one who potentially has the propensity to fight back? Hard to fathom of course, which speaks volumes when the screening I'm in had its fair share of walkouts from amongst the full house audience.

But in a tale of two halves, the other showcases Daniel's struggle to try and rebuild a normal life, but again, with such a traumatizing event that he experienced, it does turn some screws loose, as he begins to suspect and mistrust, just like female victims would, all women whom he encounters and who in his estimates, fit the bill of his kidnappers, for reasons none other than vengeance. I thought the second half was more engaging than its earlier portion as it boiled down to an individual struggle, and with an ending that spoke volumes for the things left unsaid. Not an easy movie to sit through given its pace and storyline, but you do get plenty of discussion topics when you emerge from the theatre.

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")