Bread and Circus DVD Review

A man emerges from Mother Earth, then he's cleaned and scrutinized for abnormalities by a monk. When he's found to be normal, he's let into the system. All the sick, very healthy, dumb, smart and everyone else who seemed dangerous to the system are sent out to the woods to be eliminated by soldiers. They are the dregs of society. The normal one (Martin Loke) is dressed in a suit, given a briefcase and sets out on the path. On the way, an old man shoots at him, so the normal one follows him and joins him for a beer. The old man tells him about when he was a young man he fought the soldiers of the kingdom and their ruthless leader (Miriam Johansson) and became a fugitive battling against the system. The normal one continues on his path until it's time for him to re-enter mother earth through her puckered arse hole. Escaping this dread destiny , he manages to carve a message into stone as a warning to future generations before finally accepting his fate.

Three years later, a young couple (Miriam Johansson and Oliver Boullet) are canoodling and eating cheese on a beach when they wander into a cave and discover the normal one's carved stone. They decipher the tablet and prepare to take on the system.

If you've seen the dvd cover for Bread and Circus, you'll probably have a good idea of how literal some of the symbolism in this film is going to be. In this strange kingdom, people emerge blood-soaked from a gaping vagina in the middle of a field and if they're not careful, they'll end up diving into a pustuled anus and being shat out of a goats arse. This is truly one of the most entertaining films I've seen in a long, long time, it's got everything from crazy action with bizarre weapons to wonderfully executed gore scenes. The special effects are outstanding, in an early Peter Jackson kind of way (which is no bad thing). We even have religious undertones, when the normal one does a Moses, with burning bushes and a stone tablet. Martin Loke did just about everything in Bread and Circus himself, including the directing, producing, special effects, and playing the lead role and one of the guards. The acting is all perfectly acceptable, considering this is not exactly a straightforward film, Martin Loke is likeable as the normal one and Miriam Johansson is sexy, bitchy and just plain odd. This dvd has been out for a couple of years now and I've finally managed to get hold of a copy, but I honestly can't understand why this isn't a cult favourite. It's more accessible than surreal works such as Begotten (which I still haven't decided if it's genius or pretentious bullshit) and the likes of Eraserhead and Tetsuo. In truth, this is more eccentric that surreal. It's a sociopolitical satire, a bloody gore fest and a burlesque carousal that deserves a place of honour in alternative cinema's history books. Jeg liker det veldig godt!. Ha det. S.J.T.

Bread and Circus. 2003

Directed by Martin Loke