Just got Reclaiming the Blade today!!!

Having just watched it and I have a few thoughts on it.

Firstly, if you are interested in having a video to show to friends and say "See, European Martial arts do exist" then you should buy this film. However if you are buying it to learn something yourself (and if you've belonged to this forum for any amount of time) you probably won't learn much, even though I have never practiced any of these arts I learned almost nothing from this movie.

This isn't to say its a bad documentary, it is great for dispelling the general malaise of 20lb club blades weilded by retarded europeans that so many people believe is the culmination of medieval combat.

It spends most of the beginning (in my opinion too much) discussing the swords' role in literature and film, and discusses fight choreography. But on the other hand, for those who haven't been indoctrinated into the modern cult of the sword, it makes perfect sense as it gets to them through the only way that they are familiar with them. Even my grandmother by the end of the film understood and believed that European martial arts did exist, were skillful, and were being resurrected.


I say, 4/5 .

Regards.

Sounds good Michael. I think that based on what you've described it's a great primer to further study, or at least a long overdue return of fire against the Pathfinders and Deadliest Warriors who have ruled public opinion for too long.

Firstly, Ryan vs. Dorkman is a wonderful piece of lightsaber choreography and is better than may of the movie scenes.


Secondly, I was hoping it was gong to spend a lot more time discussing why and how european martial arts are being resurrected, and spend some more time on interviewing the members of various organizations, maybe a discussion on the various big groups like schola gladitorria (misspelled), arma, etc.


Thirdy, exactly how bad is pathfinder (on a scale of braveheart to "THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!)? I heard it was pretty bad. (And thats from fans of 300 [which I must say, I also like]).

Well, I would love to be able to see it...

Any idea when the movie will be available in Europe? (even the itunes store is restricted to the USA).

Cheers,

J

I have the deluxe edition with an extra CD with various sword masters showing their training on it. I'm actually on that CD too. ;-)

For me, that CD has value for the experienced sword person. Unfortunately the last school scene got cut before it got started...but minor quibble for me (probably not for that school though).

I just watched this last night, and personally I was rather disappointed. I was not anticipating this as nearly all the reviews I've heard of it have been positive. I won't say that it was poor, or that I didn't like it, but just that it wasn't very well arranged. I might be more forgiving but for the fact that this is a work which was in production for so very long and from which I expected a much tighter and coherent examination of the topic. In fact, I fear that were it not for my inherent interest in the topic and feeling somewhat obligated in some manner to support it, I would think much less of it than I do.

It is certainly a step in the right direction. It does present its material in a positive light and even-handedly - perhaps too much so. Unfortunately I didn't find it to be particularly compelling, exciting, or even interesting in its structure or content. I often felt that someone with no background knowledge in the subject would be mislead as to what was being said and wondered if they knew what they wanted to say themselves. For a film that should have a wealth of visual material from which to draw it recycled a surprising amount of footage and the CG was just simply hokey to me.

I had hoped this would be something to add to my collection, but as it is, I'm glad I borrowed a copy rather than purchasing it outright. If you too have doubts, it is also available through Netflix (and for Instant Viewing as well).

So there, I said it, though it doesn't make me glad to do so.

Michael Curl said:

Quote:

Thirdy, exactly how bad is pathfinder (on a scale of braveheart to "THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!)? I heard it was pretty bad. (And thats from fans of 300 [which I must say, I also like]).

Well, milege may vary, depending on what you want out of it. If you want anything historical (The Viking helmets have horns...), or a sophisticated plot for that matter, you will be rather disappointed, to put it lightly. If you just like to watch fight scenes and don't mind watching as they mangle everything else, well you might even enjoy it. I have it on DVD, and I kind of liked it, but only for the aforementioned fight scenes. Haven't bothered to watch it again since I got it though, so they weren't that great...

Personally, I would give the movie a 4/5.

I think for someone who knows nothing about WMA or swords it is a great intro. It talks about the role of the sword in film and in fencing, which is probably where most people can relate to it. They finish out the section with a statement from someone saying that fencing and movie swordsmanship isn't the real thing, and then it transitions into more historical information. I thought it was a logical progression.

Some things I didn't like were the inclusion of the SCA, which seemed kind of tangential to the subject (no offense or insult intended to the SCA or its members), and the rock sections of the soundtrack, which I felt detracted from the credibility/seriousness of the film.

I also felt that the brief section about Japanese swordsmanship was off-topic, since the film was geared more towards 'the medieval and Renaissance blade'. There was also a quote from Tom Urso, the featured Japanese swordsmanship expert (I don't really know what to call him to be more specific), in which he stated that Japanese swordsmanship was superior to European swordsmanship, which I felt detracted from the goal of the documentary.

There were a few other quotes I felt were not the best to include, and the CG was a little unnecessary to the topic in my opinion, but that's being nit-picky.

I personally would have liked more discussion from the historical swordsmanship field and less from the movie/sport fencing field, but that's just my preference. I also could have done without some of the CG

I did enjoy the sections with Paul Chamagne, and the historical stage combat part from John and Johnathan Waller as well. The piece about the blade fragment from Bebbanburg Castle was also interesting. I'm not sure why John Clements was only shown in black and white though :wtf:

I think my biggest complaint with the movie is that I feel like it used too much Hollywood fame to back it up (Viggo Mortensen and the several other LOTR people involved), rather than focusing on the historical experts.

In summary, I think this is a great movie to prime the pump, so to speak. However, If you are already fairly well-read on the subject of medieval arms and armor you're probably not going to get much out of it (although it is still fun to watch). I'd buy it again if I didn't already own it. :)

Overall I think it succeeds in its intent, which is to show how the sword has influenced modern culture and how many of its related techniques are being rediscovered. It isn't without its faults but given the limited production budget I can forgive most of them. It didn't teach me anything I didn't already know but it would serve as a good primer.

I was wondering if anyone knew if those on the production team were also practitioners of sword arts? It would seem logical if they are making another DVD targeted towards advanced practitioners Just curious.

~nic

....

Ran Pleasant
ARMA DFW