The Book of Revelation
Directed by Ana Kokkinos.
Starring Tom Long, Greta Scacchi and Colin Friels.
Rarely does a film come along that so powerfully addresses a taboo subject and explores the dark natures of both sexes as The Book of Revelation does. The Australian psychological drama from Ana Kokkinos (director of Head On) explores the rarely talked about or understood subject of sexual abuse of men by women. Daniel (Tom Long), a Melbourne dancer, is abducted and sexually abused by three masked women, then released back into the world twelve days later. Tormented and shell-shocked, he is physically unable to speak of his ordeal and, incapable of returning to his former life, abandons his bewildered friends, including girlfriend (Anna Torv), and dance mentor Isobel (Greta Scacchi). Daniel wanders the streets in isolation and despair struggling to come to terms with what happened to him and trying to discover the identity of his female captors, with the strange abuse he suffered revealed in graphic flashbacks, while Isobel’s cop ex-husband Olsen (Colin Friels) attempts to draw Dan back into his former life.
Tom Long is outstanding and haunting as a man utterly confused and destroyed by his ordeal in a society that laughs at the possibility that men can be the victims of women’s abuse (as the police actually do when Dan attempts to report the crime). The other characters are all very believable and portrayed well by a strong cast. The film ends rather abruptly and leaves many questions unanswered about various story threads and the motives and identities of the abusers, but is unwavering in its brave portrayal of male sexual abuse as an extant and traumatic thing. I wouldn’t say I ‘enjoyed’ the film, as it was quite a harrowing ordeal just to watch, but the skilfully directed film had its intended powerful effect on my emotions and caused me to question my own pre-conceptions.
3.5 out of 5
Clementine Menz
