The Book of Revelation (2006) User Reviews

Not as shocking as you might be led to believe

[asphodelfilms · 5/10 · 30 July 2006]

I went into this film with some bizarre expectations. I had been told it was completely shocking and devastating. I had also been told it was terrible and embarrassing.

I didn't think it was either.

I didn't get angry - shocked - embarrassed. I was just bored.

Ana Kokkinos is undoubtedly a great director with a strong vision and that really shines through in this film with bold visuals and a very confident approach to the story. Unfortunately there's not a great deal of story to take a confident approach to.

The first few scenes are gripping and the tension builds really beautifully so you're wondering what has happened to The Dancer. What did he experience? Why? How will it change him? It evokes the feeling of films such as Death In Venice, Don't Look Now and The Comfort of Strangers (hmm.. all Venetian..). I was hooked.

But when it is finally revealed, I found it fairly anti-climactic and rather pointless. Those expecting to be shocked by graphic sex or violence probably won't be. This isn't Romance, Irreversible or even Head On for that matter. There are moments of powerplay in the rape/ abduction scenes that are truly great - when he is forced to masturbate and mentions what goes through a man's mind when he closes his eyes being one clear example - but the problem is, they leave you wanting more which the film just doesn't deliver. It doesn't quite reach the role reversal thrills that film such as Hard Candy or Death & The Maiden deliver. There are endless possibilities raised by the idea of 3 women abducting a man for their pleasure. This may be part of the problem. Swamped with endless possibilities, it seems like they chose not to go with any of them.

Once we know what happened to The Dancer, the film stumbles. It falls into that great Australian trend of minimalism and subtlety that just leaves audiences wondering what the **** is going on and why anybody should care. You can call it an "exploration" or a "meditation" (and I imagine the same people who used those words positively in their reviews of Japanese Story and Somersault will probably dredge them up again for this film... and I expect the words "emotional truth" will be thrown around at the same time) or whatever you want but frankly, I think it's just poor storytelling. It seems to shy away from the real drama within the story. If you're going to make a film about emotional truth, don't claim to be a story. Call it Japanese Emotional Truth. Or Emotional Truth of Revelation. Or Girl Gets Laid In Jindabyne. Let's call a spade a spade.

It doesn't really explore the consequences of what happens for The Dancer. There's about 10 minutes of plot spread out over an hour and by the time something actually happens, I for one was completely disengaged and beyond caring. The film also stops just when it looks like it's actually going to explore the issues it's raised.

It's bitterly disappointing because I thought Head On was definitely one of the greatest Australian films of the last 10 years and I thought the subject matter of this film could have gone in so many different exciting directions. I never expected it to be boring.

Strong stuff, but a weak finish

[Philby-3 · 6/10 · 19 September 2006]

This is not your typical Australian movie, despite its government funding. It could have come from a European art-house director and its location in Melbourne seems incidental (I think the original book by Rupert Thomson was set in Amsterdam). It is also not a movie for the nervous – at times it is very tense indeed and the cutting and soundtrack seem designed to keep the audience on edge. As Daniel the male dancer abducted and sexually abused by three hooded women, Tom Long gives an intense, if slightly monolithic, performance. Daniel's lines give him little scope for expressing his feelings, it is only in dance that he can do that, and the rest of the time he acts rather than thinks. On the other hand his physical appearance dominates the film – we are seeing essentially his view of things.

The abuse scenes were not as bad as I had feared, and were relatively short. They were pornographic, I think, only to people like the hooded women. And here's the problem. A handsome heterosexual man captured by three young women and forced to have sex with them? No wonder the cops laugh when Daniel tries to tell them what happened. What is it about Daniel that moves them to do this? He was not chosen at random. He's a fit accomplished young male dancer, someone of physical beauty and grace. Why do these women need to humiliate and degrade him? No doubt the director Ana Kokkinos wants us to ask this question but we are not provided with many clues towards an answer. All we are told by the hooded ones is that "it is for our pleasure". Well, if they are sadists, I suppose it makes sense but I don't think it tells us anything about relationships between men and women generally.

Even so, the whole thing is pretty well done, and we do get a very clear picture of the devastating impact abuse of this nature can have on a person. The revelation, I suppose, is Daniel's loss of both innocence and self-regard. Ana Kokkinos proved in "Head On" that she can mix atmosphere and action though this film is quieter overall. Tom Long gets good support from Greta Scacchi, never better, as his dancing mistress, and Colin Friels gives a quiet and convincing portrait of an understanding policeman ( a very rare beast). As Daniel's girlfriend, Anna Torv's performance is curiously flat – her character is underwritten and her impassive good looks convey little but emptiness. Deborah Mailman also puts in a good performance in a small role as the girl who helps Daniel recover from his ordeal. But the portentous (or is it pretentious) atmosphere dissolves to a banal ending, almost on the same level as a "Twisted Tale" (a Channel 9 TV series of mordant but slight stories) – the motivation for a routine assault is explained.

The screening I saw was sparsely attended and I don't think this film will do well, which is a pity. Ana Kokkinos is a talented filmmaker and it would be interesting to see what she could do with more mainstream material. Art-house Street can be a bit of a cul-de-sac.

A Nutshell Review: The Book of Revelation

[DICK STEEL · 6/10 · 27 July 2008]

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.

Interesting idea, poorly written, muddled execution.

[garver_dave · 2/10 · 25 September 2006]

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.

Revelations and Nightmares

[j-thompson4-1 · 17 September 2006]

'The Book of Revelation' is an adaptation of Rupert Thomson's 1997 novel about a male dancer who experiences sexual abuse at the hands of three women. The film is directed by Ana Kokkinos, who returns to a key motif of her earlier 'Head On': the wounded male body in a society where men are meant to be un-breakable.

Tom Long plays Daniel, the male dancer who experiences the aforementioned attack at the hands of women. The women (all concealed by hoods and masks) hold him prisoner in a rundown building where they subject him to various forms of sexual degradation.

After being released by the unseen rapists, Daniel can't admit to what's happened. After all, who'd believe him? A man being abducted and forced to satisfy the sexual demands of three women? So he leaves his girlfriend, quits his dancing career ... and goes in search of the mysterious attackers. Why? To seek revenge? For more torture?

The film alternates between excerpts of Daniel trying (or not trying) to come to grips with his experience and flashbacks to the said attacks. This creates a dense, nightmarish atmosphere that still unsettles me almost an hour after this film finished. Also, some haunting use is made of various Melbourne locations (though as a Melbournite, I couldn't help but want to cry out at certain points: "That's the cafe at Melbourne Uni! Why's he walking down that fateful lane when there are so many milk bars on Flinders Street?")

The abuse itself is rendered ambiguous. Are they 'real' acts of sexual degradation? Or fantasies of domination and submission? Psychoanalytic film theorists will have a field day with the references to infancy, the womb, the maternal, castration ... Nevertheless, I had to wonder: How would the audience respond if the women weren't wearing such highly stylised garb (and shot in equally stylised surrounds, at one point in slow-mo?) The attack scenes do accurately suggest Daniel's loss of male power and privilege, but (thanks to the manner in which they have been filmed) wouldn't look out of place in your average male-oriented porno. Nothing innovative or politically subversive there, or in the objectification of women that (we are led to believe) is one of Daniel's responses to his degradation.

And there's the acting. Greta Scaachi and Deborah Mailman are excellent as women trying to understand Daniel's silent pain, but Tom Long doesn't hit the right note. He seems just too removed from the world around him, even before the attacks. One may argue in his defence that he is trying to represent one model of masculinity - strong and sturdy, tough and unfeeling. Perhaps so. But it's also difficult to empathise with his character, or feel any emotional connection for him whatsoever.

But I'm rushing ahead of myself here ... Perhaps (not unlike Daniel) there are many questions and anxieties about 'The Book of Revelation' that I have yet to articulate or come to grips with. The film may not be a completely honest (or subversive) study of sexual violence or gender roles. But it does raise some interesting - and often quite disturbing - questions about these issues. And for that alone, Ana Kokkinos should be commended.

Interesting (and shocking) gender-reversal

[Mylo_Milk · 7/10 · 6 August 2006]

I saw this film at the Brisbane International Film Festival. The director, Ana Kokkinos ("Head On" 1998), was at the screening to introduce the film and for a brief Q&A afterwards. It is an adaptation of the novel by the same name by Arthur Thompson, which I have not yet read but will endeavour to do so some time in the near future. I was intrigued by the plot - a male dancer (Daniel) is abducted by three hooded women, raped and tortured for 12 days then dumped on the side of the road with no clue as to his attackers' identity (other than a couple of intimately located tattoos and birthmarks) - and looked forward to a gender reversal of the woman-as-victim man-as-perpetrator roles with regard to sexual assault. The film is very confronting, and certainly raises questions about sex and power - in the post-screening discussion, Ana Kokkinos said she wanted it to force us to look at abuse with "fresh eyes", as "human beings" instead of from either side of a gender divide. She particularly hoped the film provoked empathy in men, for the constant fear of violence and sexual abuse that women "know all too well". I certainly think the film forces you - shocks you, perhaps - into thinking about the issue of sexual violence, but rather than making men see it from a female point of view I think it highlights the difference between male and female sexuality. By this I mean that while Daniel is not a willing participant in the sexual acts which take place, they are of such a nature that he is physically capable of sexual arousal and orgasm (with the notable exception of one particularly brutal scene). This is certainly not the case for female victims of rape. Regardless, Daniel is severely traumatised by the experience and the film follows his attempts to find his attackers through his mental and emotional turmoil, culminating in a tragic and disturbing though understandable act. Quite beautifully shot, and definitely worth seeing, if you can handle the graphic depiction of sexual violence (which is certainly no more than you would encounter in any other R18+ rated film, but seems to be more unsettling because of the unconventional context).

This film needed more cow bell.

[timkelly1986 · 3/10 · 6 September 2006]

Here's a couple of paragraphs out of an essay I wrote for university about TBOR.

"The Book of Revelation is an erotic thriller about sex, power and a talented dancer's struggle to regain his sense of self after being unfortunately raped by three cloaked women. The three women that violate him all have distinctive marks on the bodies; one has a giant birth mark on her buttocks, another has a butterfly tattoo on her lower stomach and the ring leader has a small circle on her breast. So he lives his new life in search of these markings, and to find them on these intimate places he does what any sane man does when he needs to see as many naked women as possible to solve a mystery, he has sex with them. An hour and ten minutes into the film and you feel like he has almost had a piece of every woman in Melbourne.

The film is a giant chunk of pretentious celluloid; it is like grandiloquence drips from every frame. At only one point towards the films final climax does Kokkinos give a scene the same energy and strength as her debut feature Head On had in droves. As like many films funded by the government bodies the film takes it self way to seriously, the script and its execution appear to be chores rather then gifts and unfortunately for the talented thespians, their brilliant performances (particularly Tom Long as the fractured protagonist) are stuck within the confines of a pompous wan k fest."

An insight into coping

[annie-186 · 7/10 · 13 September 2006]

A locally famous male dancer gets abducted by three hooded women and kept prisoner for 12 days. He is subjected to sexual, emotional and physical abuse during this time before being dumped on waste ground when they are done with him. Whilst he never sees their faces during his ordeal, each women has an unusual identifying mark. He then begins an unusual quest to find the women responsible.

I had expected to hate this film, as I had read so many mixed reviews about it. Instead, I found this film intriguing, having a pet interest in psychology. I was surprised at Daniel's mechanism for coping: I found it a stretch to believe that he told no-one, although on reflection he did try to tell both the police and his girlfriend who were not sufficiently open minded to probe him for more information. The expression of his trauma through his dance was very moving.

The acting, on the most part, was first rate. I loved Colin Friels as the empathetic detective. Tom Long showed great courage in accepting this role, which he delivered without it being seedy or sleazy. The girl who played Daniel's first girlfriend came across brilliantly as a selfish, shallow bitch.

There were a few unanswered questions, but on the whole it was a well paced film, well acted, well directed.

7/10

This film is stunning.

[lovekat-1 · 1/10 · 23 August 2006]

Well it certainly stunned me - I can not believe that someone made another Australian film that's even more boring than Somersault. The story is implausible, the characters, with the exception of Friels' and Mailman's characters, are unlikeable and wooden, Tom Long possesses a VAST array of facial expressions: happy and not happy, and the "sex scenes", which could have been very confronting and disturbingly erotic, would have been at home in a low-budget porno flick.

This is the first movie I have seen in 30 years of cinema-going that has had me on the edge of my seat....ready to get up and leave.

The best thing about this movie is the promotional poster.

An unsuccessful Michael Haneke like movie

[David_Moran · 6/10 · 24 July 2007]

"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.

Promising Beginning That Becomes a Sort of Erotic Soap-Opera.

[claudio_carvalho · 4/10 · 3 July 2009]

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")

Tough to sit through but so much to think and talk about afterward!

[scottybrady · 9/10 · 30 July 2006]

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.

Mmmm... We agreed to disagree, and therein lies the interest.

[pdgfd1 · 7/10 · 21 August 2006]

The Book of Revalation: Viewed at MIFF:

Of the many films attended by 'screen partner' and m'self at MIFF this year, 'Like Minds' and 'TBOR' were the standouts.

Tom Long really does give the performance I always hoped he'd be capable of, applause to AK for casting both he and Greta Scacchi. Whilst I have an aversion to those who seem to insist upon using such terms as 'brave' and ' courageous' to describe performances (PLEASE folks: Turning up to a film shoot risks only ego... saving a drowning swimmer in a rip-tide is brave), there are challenges afoot for all concerned in the making and viewing of this film.

The diverse opinions you've no doubt read here so far confirm our experience... A film that begs discussion over coffee, or a drink!

Go-Ana, I had my serious reservations,but then you knew your audience would!

Don't bother

[abisio · 4/10 · 7 July 2008]

Book of Revelations starts very well. Daniel, an egomaniac dancer is kidnapped, abused and sexually raped by three masked women.

After that, nothing else really happens. There is some hint of rediscovery but the movie gives nor explanation nor a real ending. Daniel reactions after the abuse are very basic. He quits dancing, has sex with every women around and finally starting a relation with very simple and common woman.

I have seen a good share of art-house movies but this has something missing in it.

The main leads are fine; but some characters does not seems to be completely defined.

Disappointed

[talkfest · 5/10 · 13 August 2006]

Worth watching this film for performances, cinematography and design but not groundbreaking cinema. Great performance by Tom Long so emotional and fragile and it's so convincing the way he internalizes his pain and then self destructs.

But I remember seeing some of the issues related to this topic treated on "Law and Order", the TV show, back in 2001, an episode called "Ridicule". A man is charged with murder of a woman and it comes out that he has been sexually assaulted by 3 women and the story revolves around whether it can be classified as rape, if he is sexually aroused. Something largely to that effect. It was nothing like the story of the Book of Revelation and it had a completely different emphasis but it meant that some of the issues on their own, were not new/shocking for me, as I had seen them raised on prime time TV 5 years ago. (Of course no explicit scenes were shown and the story started where TBOR left off and I could go on and on to list significant differences.) But, because I remembered this TV show, I was hoping TBOR would take me a lot further, I felt disappointed by how this particular film had been hyped. I just thought it would make me feel a lot more confronted and moved. Not groundbreaking cinema.

I do feel however, that these types of issues obviously need to be continually raised, and debated from different viewpoints, to gradually have a lasting impact on society. It gets it out there, in front of more people who may not have seen the topic discussed at all yet.

Great art direction/cinematography and loved Greta Scacchi's portrayal of the Dance instructor too. I thought it was one of her best performances.

A promising start, but then some cheap porn and a puff of smoke.

[fedor8 · 21 March 2008]

"A secret he would not share. An obsession he could not control. A mystery he dare not resolve." This is TBOR's "grand" tagline. The mystery and the secret aren't nearly as good as you'd hoped for. The movie's premise is just a big, empty promise that turns out to be a typical movie-poster lie.

TBOR certainly works very well in the first 20-30 minutes, while the disappearance of the dancer is still a total mystery. Frankly, it should have stayed that way, because the "revelation" was a bit of a joke. Turns out Long was being raped and tortured by three young women. Is that it?, I thought. No mysterious cult, no aliens, no demons, no underground organization, no travelers from the past - just 3 horny women looking for perverted fun. How disappointing. I'd have preferred any of the just-mentioned clichés to this. However, even this puff-of-smoke "big secret" could have sufficed as a basis for a solid mystery/thriller. Alas, it isn't one. The filmmakers opted to turn this into a psychological drama. YAWN.

Most of the movie is Long shooting in the dark as he tries to find his female captors. The worst part is that he fails. Even worse than that, WE the viewers never find out anything more than he does. The film ends with cop Friels telling Long to "start from the beginning". What a scam; it's the sort of cop-out ending (with a cop, no less) that almost anyone can come up with. To cop out during the writing process is the easiest solution. The hard option is to actually rack your brains, trying to come up with a unique or interesting twist, or at least a story with a beginning, middle and end. This is definitively an example of very lazy writing. And how does one mask lazy writing? One calls it a "psychological, meditative drama with a message". It's always easy to fool the sheep; after all, the likes of Picasso and Bunuel have been doing it for years. Create nothing and then rationalize it with empty semantics and other well-improvised nonsense. Art in its very nature offers a great opportunity for charlatans to exist in it. It takes a clear and unpretentious head to weed out the crap.

Of course a woman would direct and co-write a movie about women who rape a man. It's a role-reversal thing-a-ma-jig sorta deal, like, don't you know? Very deep, like, socially relevant, like, message, that is meant to, like, make us think a bit about the role of women in society and stuff, like, guyeee. The whole victim thing put upside down on its blonde head, like, wow! So deep and stuff. Feminist power!

Tom Long is pretty good in the lead role, though. He vaguely resembles the young Malcolm McDowell. There are several actresses from the terrible TV drama series "The Secret Life Of Us" (the hospital nurse and the aborigine girl), which the director was also involved in, plus Nina Liu who starred in a 90s teen Aussie series. This Liu is very attractive and should have been given a bigger role in the movie.

Speaking of Liu, if one is to place suspicion on anyone, it's her. She had left Long, just as he was sent to pick up cigarettes. But what's the point in speculating? Clearly, the filmmakers themselves have no clue, i.e. haven't decided who the perpetrators are, so why bother. The end-credits state that one of the three robed women was played by none other than the actress who plays Long's girlfriend. But I'm sure this was merely the director saving money by using a person to play two roles. After all, there is no way that Long could fail to recognize his girlfriend's eyes, voice, breasts, or legs for entire 12 days; they'd been together for 3 years before his abduction.

I didn't think that the pornographic nature of some of the scenes was necessary for the story. I believe this choice had more to do with the director's own sexual fantasies and living them out on the screen than anything else that she might come up as an excuse with - something undoubtedly very "deep". Charlatan.

In fact, the TV series "The Secret Life Of Us" (no secrets there, though) which Kokkanis also worked on has a barely concealed strain of anti-male sentiment throughout it. This leads me to speculate that the female director particularly enjoyed filming the vibrator-rape scene. Did she drool while filming it?

I have no idea what the title of the movie has to do with anything.

Still, an Aussie drama without a left-wing political message. That doesn't happen very often these days...

An unusual slant on a rape theme

[raymond-106 · 7/10 · 26 March 2010]

It's not a biblical epic as the title might suggest but a sadistic drama of rape and revenge.

Daniel (Tom Long) is rehearsing some complicated dance moves under the direction of his choreographer Isobel (Greta Scacchi). It's a violent and sexy routine as he leaps air borne swinging through the air at the end of a rope. Isobel is not 100 per cent pleased as she feels he lacks the required deep inner feeling for the role..

With the rehearsal over, Daniel's partner wants a cigarette so Daniel dashes off to buy her a packet. He doesn't come back. Days and days pass, but still no Daniel. A private investigator is engaged to search for him.

I suppose the revelation is that he was kidnapped by three women heavily cloaked in monks' robes but further details are sadly missing. They pin him down to the floor of a disused warehouse, each wrist shackled to the floor, each ankle shackled in the same way so when stripped of his clothes he looks like a large letter X. The black cloaked women hover about his naked body like crows over a human carcase raping him orally and anally as he screams to be released. "He stinks" says one "wash him" And then we see the erotic bathing of his face and body. This is really strong stuff for public viewing. But there is more to come. His hands are released on the promise he will masturbate himself so that the lascivious women can watch with glee the changing expressions on his face.

After 12 days they are done with him and he is dumped blind-folded in a dusty field. Humiliated and disgusted he finds his way back to his partner. After the intensity of the earlier scenes. the film here begins to sag. Daniel clamps up and nobody else presses him for information about his recent absence.

The rest of the film is pretty much a lone search by Daniel to find the perpetrators of his ordeal. I found the scene at the police interview quite unconvincing. And where do you start when looking for a girl with a tattoo on her breast or a redhead with a glorious head of hair. And how do you know it's really the one you're after. No matter. He stalks and rapes them. In a way he's getting his own back.

Eventually he meets up with the policeman who has been searching for him. He seems to heed the policeman's advice "You've been starting at the end. You should start at the beginning". Rather odd advice if you ask me. But it does give you something to figure out as the film ends. As a matter of fact there are a lot of unanswered questions. All the same I'm glad I watched this Australian film. It's very different, though some might find it offensive.

Unrevealing Book

[thesar-2 · 2/10 · 24 June 2009]

Sure, I like some indie films. A lot, actually. I don't always understand them, and that's okay. Not all of them were meant to be understood, especially by mainly main-stream people like me. I'm probably showing my ignorance, but I'm still puzzled why 'Book of Revelation' is called that. I love those end-of-world stories and the only thing I could see similar to the end of the world and this film was the torture it took to get through this. I'm not talking about the subject matter; perhaps I've been subdued from all the other torture/porn I've seen. It was just the incredibly slow story, one hour 15 minute material stretched for nearly two hours. (Major spoilers lie ahead) Hetero-man dancer gets abducted, seduced and raped six ways from Sunday, or in this case 12 days, by three hooded women. Upon his release, after his somewhat distraught dancer/girlfriend barely flinches (other than dropping a glass) after wondering which she missed more: him or the cigarettes she originally sent him for upon abduction. Still in a state of reasonable shock, he refuses to talk, and she goes on to work without so much a hug as if nothing happened and he takes a well needed shower. Problem. As much as he's tormented through the flashbacks to his, uh, "attacks," he's as equally aroused. Granted, I haven't been bound and used as a plaything, but I doubt I would really "be in the mood." Oh, I forgot, and how does he try and solve this crime? Sleep with as many women as he can to try and spot the birthmarks or tats the criminals had. I see where they're going with it – show a gang rape from the male POV. Fine, twist notwithstanding, you could never feel for this guy. Only saving grace was the good acting of the LifetimeTV Dancer/Cancer Instructor. But even she couldn't save the film.

Directed by a woman and is a fascinating character study

[jordondave-28085 · 7/10 · 3 December 2023]

(2006) The Book of Revelation PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER CRIME DRAMA

Adapted from the book by Rupert Thomson co-written and directed by Ana Kokkinos that introduces viewers to a couple, Daniel (Tom Long) and Bridget (Anna Torv) in a dance studio along with others, rehearsing their moves to the upcoming performance, with Isabel as the director. Bridget asks Daniel to go out and grab her a pack of smokes, and when he does, he does not come back. She would involve the police, except that they have a 72 hour protocol that needed to be followed before they will actively go and search for him. It is the big night, and Daniel has still have not shown up with Isabel making the conscious choice of replacing Daniel's lead role with another former dancer, Justin. The following morning, Daniel blindfolded with a hood, he is then dropped and dumped by a GMC Vandura in the middle of nowhere. He then takes off the bag that was covering his head, and spots a bar nearby, he goes to it to get himself a beer. Unable to adapt to normalcy, his live in girlfriend, Bridget becomes skeptical about his last whereabouts when he tells her he was abducted by three women. They had done this by approaching him with their heads covered and pricking him with a needle. And upon his release he then tries to make a report about it to authorities, but even they begin taunting him as well. As a result of people who are insensitive to his current situation, he then packs up his stuff and leaves his girlfriend, Bridget to work at a pub near the waterfront for the purpose of identifying the three women who physically abused and humiliated him. From the time he was let go to the time he went searching for the three women who chained him up doing weird things to him, viewers see in flashbacks some of the things the three women had done to him, and do these acts while wearing pigeon holed masks. Leaving with the only clues are their nude bodies as each one of the three ladies have distinct marks on such as a butterfly on one, the other has a huge red blemish or birthmark on the right side of her cheeks of her buttocks, while the third has a round circle over her breast. Daniel then goes on a crusade eager to find out what the three ladies actually look like, which at first, as soon as he sees three ladies enter the bar, the first thing he thinks about is they must be the same three who abducted him. And he becomes disappointed that it was not them. And of course, Isabel (Greta Scacchi) wants Daniel to return back to dancing again, except that he is disturbed and disoriented. Instead of asking her former friend, Mark Olsen (Colin Friels) with his expertise to find out the three ladies who abducted him, all he does is report back to Isabel about Daniels whereabouts.

What I like about this movie is that it takes it's subject matter and makes it into thinking movie. Since if anyone were to at the census or even watch the news and so forth- it is always men abductors. And when they're women abductors, it usually occurs toward babies or on young children. In this scenario, is perhaps the most unlikely scenario with three different women involve in kidnapping a young man so that they can perform unspeakable acts on him. What makes it much worse is that the victim has no way of knowing what each of them even look like. My quip with this film is the fact one veteran detective looked like was willing to help him, except that Daniel has never asked him, since he was never believed when he went to the police station. Here was one detective or officer who does! That is perhaps the million dollar question, why didn't Isabel ask her former boyfriend to get involve, and throughout the entire film he never does other than to be his therapist. That alone does not make much sense.

A unoriginal and pseudo literary distaff take on Pauline Reage's 'Story of O'

[jddawson · 1/10 · 10 August 2006]

Anna Kokkinos' success with' Head On' now begins to look like it depended totally on the script and Alex Dimitriades great lead performance. The degree to which this latest, "The Book of Revelation" is both derivative , pretentious and utterly unoriginal ( except for Tristan Milani's fine cinematography) seems to bear this out. .

Alas, there have already been quite a few Aussie movies dealing with such themes , some reviled for 'sexism' (and/or explicit sex scenes) in the 1970s and 1980s and beyond and maybe they're worth looking at again after this piece of fluff. Of course, setting the whole thing in the world of ballet and making it all achingly slow (and in its choreography, like a 1960s Dutch Ballet experimental number) does suggest Great Art if you've not traveled around much-and then only if you never progressed beyond Art Theory 101.

Add to the pretension, appallingly arch dialog ( "you will do as we command...") and the whole shebang falls onto its well funded face. Then there are the 'sexy' bits : straight from Dario Argento.

Given the lovely but truncated performance by Colin Friels - how about a real city primeval thriller ?

All in, all ,with 'The Book of Revelation' , the feminist project has been set back yet another decade - and with the willing and deeply imitative (of male writers like Henry Miller, William Burroughs, even Bukowski) collaboration of some collective in Melbourne, Oz, suffering from a form of educational -and ideological- amnesia! No revelations await us here.

Women Torture.

[DarkSpotOn · 6/10 · 10 May 2023]

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.

The title was the best part of the movie

[real_hiflyer · 2/10 · 7 December 2007]

I have to agree with what many of the other reviewers concluded. A subject which could have been thought-provoking and shed light on a reversed double-standard, failed miserably.

Rape being a crime of violence and forced abusive control, the scenes here were for the most part pathetic. It would have been a better idea to cover short glimpses of what was happening and let the audience imagine the deed. And the victim's laugh with the cops, when he aborted his police complaint, seemed as genuine as that of the cops. No awkwardness, no hesitance to merely join in. I don't know if this was bad acting and or bad directing but someone missed the point entirely. As for his half-a**ed supposed search for his attackers, pathetic. They should have skipped most of the sex scenes - another monumental failure in themselves, and had him meet Colin Friels when he first went to the police. The story could have then been drawn forth with good dialog and the occasional flashback - and saved by the superior acting and presence Colin Friels - the only reason I watched this movie - brings to any project he does.

The only concrete revelation of this movie, is, it was crap.

This film left me thinking, confused, but entertained and challenged.

[gamblor567 · 8/10 · 29 July 2006]

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.

Worst Australian movie for a long while

[pentultima · 1/10 · 6 July 2008]

Firstly, the title has no relevance whatsoever to the movie. It started off fine with good development but got annoying when he couldn't tell his girlfriend what had happened to him. Even his attempt to tell the police failed, which just added to the annoyance value. There were too many pregnant pauses in the movie that seemed more like filler than anything worthwhile. The plot never revealed who did this crime to him although a good plot would have allowed disclosure. The ending was nothing short of "hey we've run out of budget let's stop it here NOW!!"...If I'd written a novel that ended this way I'd top myself. TRASH TRASH TRASH!!

Pretensions, corny flick. And bad porn

[balalaj · 2/10 · 22 September 2007]

This looks like one of these Australian movies done by "talented" students and funded by the government. It is chock full of smart shots of colors and shapes and verbal excursions into Freudian psychology to be appreciated by art students and teachers alike, but in general it is perceived a stupid mockery of good cinema, good storytelling and generally good taste. This what happens I guess when art students become so obsessively indulgent. "Pink Flamingoes" is miles ahead one the same subjects. Some porn movies from 70s are far more watchable and inspiring. Book of Revelation is not entirely without merits, but as an overall experience it is well below average B-grade.