The Knights of the Quest

This almost monumental film by Pupi Avati boosts beautiful locations, convincing protagonists (especially Thomas Kretschmann and Raoul Bova) and a very interesting take on the age-old legend of Jesus Christ's shroud (it's a catholic movie in a way, but it wasn't bothersome for me at all although I'm not a religious person). Even though the film has its fantasy elements, it's rather a pseudo-historical movie about the medieval age, convincingly depicting the possible conditions of living at that time. The few battle scenes are quite graphic (which could irritate average fantasy and historical drama fans), but only depict how atrocious violence is and what effects it has on victims (which should be shown in every film where violence happens!).

Although the movie runs over 140 minutes, it never becomes boring and constantly keeps the viewer interested. Riz Ortolani's score is wonderfully pompous and matches the heroic quest of the title's knights. The only flaw probably is that in the English language version, there are some small characters that talk so muddled one can hardly understand them.

All in all a pleasing experience (the climax is quite dark, though), and it's cool that the movie distinguishes itself from the usual pseudo-historical fodder that is just pompous and delivers no surprises.