The Book Of Revelation

Review by Sean Lynch
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There is no doubt that Australian director Ana Kokkinos’ new film The Book of Revelation will spark debate and challenge audiences. Not only does it explore issues of sexual violence against men by women, it also takes a firm stab at male power issues. In fact, it's certain to stir controversy - unfortunately, that's all it seems it has the potential to achieve.  

Daniel (Tom Long), a well-known professional dancer is drugged and abducted by three cloaked women. He is held captive for twelve days and subjected to a torrent of physical and sexual abuse (a female on male sodomy scene is sure to have audience members cringing). After being released, Daniel struggles to reclaim his previous life and frantically searches for the women who violently stole it from him.

The Book of Revelation’s potential to present a compelling story of a broken man is quashed by its obvious endeavour to shock its audience.

It seems apparent from the get go that Kokkinos wanted to spark a reaction from the viewer and force them to re-evaluate their notions of sex and power. The unfortunate downfall seems to be that the gender role-reversal is unsuccessful, mainly due to it being difficult to feel  any sympathy at all for Daniel. This has nothing to do with the victim being male, or because of what he endures (most male commercial movie goers will likely think "Stop complaining mate, I'd pay for that!") but everything to do with inconsistent filmmaking.

Unfortunately, there seems to be an inability to distinguish a distinct tone change between the events before and after the kidnapping. If anything, Long seems more animated and empowered after the rape than he is prior to it, which ultimately confuses the purpose of the story.

What seems to work against the film is simply the elongated pace. Many shots seem to drag on forever, at times feeling like a poorly conceived school play with each character waiting to be prompted for their next line. Tom Long’s performance as Daniel is often (whether through personal choice or requested direction) quite dull and he seems to display very little distinction of character between the two events and the film suffers for it.

Despite their undeniable talent, Deborah Mailman and Gretta Schacchi seem to be restricted by the simplicity of the script. Australian film veteran Colin Friels is a standout solely due to being given more than one sentence to work with at a time.

Of course a film involving sexual violence is going to attract attention - just look at Eyes Wide Shut or Kokkino's previous film Head On. However, while Kokkinos exploits this to create this desired ‘shock value’, she's failed to present its effects in a thoughtful or even interesting way. If the audience are going to have to sit through graphic scenes of rape and violence, one would hope that the surrounding narrative would at least give plausible grounds for such content. The Book of Revelation is resounding proof that a bit of sex here or there is not nearly enough to make a compelling film - something we all learnt from watching American Pie 4: Band Camp.

Gretta Scacchi’s character states early in the film "It's too easy to seduce an audience with sex", unfortunately Kokkinos doesn't follow that advice. The end result is a monotonous mess of what could have been a gripping and ground breaking film.

3.5 out of 5

Book of Revelation
Australian release: 7th September, 2006
Cast: Tom Long, Greta Scacchi, Colin Friels, Anna Torv, Deborah Mailman
Director: Ana Kokkinos
Website: Click here.