Bread and Circus (2003)

Load of rubbish!!

Just so...so bad

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

BREAD AND CIRCUS isn't a great film. Hell, it's really not even a good film - but this is another case where the film as a whole is stronger than the sum of it's parts. The film is an amalgamation of many different elements - German influenced splatter, surreal social-commentary, shoot-'em-up actioner, all laced with a dose of Monty Pythonesque humor and done on a relatively miniscule budget. The plot surrounds a society where anyone who isn't completely "average" is cast-out to fend for themselves in the woods. One guy bucks the system and leaves his mark for future generations to follow. A young couple finds the original anarchists writings a few years later, and take up the struggle against non-conformity...Sounds like pretty "heady" stuff, right? Well, in concept it kinda is - in execution, the film takes the idea and turns it into a splat-stick style gore-filled comedy, which works for what it is. Despite obvious budget restraints, the many splattery FX and camera-work really look quite decent - far more competent than many other recent SOV Euro-splatter-fest's that I've seen in recent years. Recommended to low-budget splatter fans that want something out of the ordinary...7/10

"Bread and Circus" is quite an interesting little splatter film. It's gory like "Bad Taste" and sick like "Pink Flamingos". In the beginning we see a vagina in the ground, which is mother earth. The vagina gives birth to a man (slime and umbilical chord included) The man is forced to be given a normality test by a monk. In the future people who try to be individuals, get hunted down by the government. Some people live in the woods as cannibals. The film is pretty disgusting, but also creative and surreal. Take note, there's gratuitous frontal male nudity, extreme splatter violence, excrement, and even a guy who gets a beer bottle stuck up his ass. Some of the Scandinavian humor is hard to figure out at times, but the film was still a lot of fun. If you enjoy Troma, John Waters, Pete Jackson and even Peter Greenaway; you'll probably love this film.

"Bread and Circus" is a rare treat, a splatter movie that is brainy and yet still blows your brains out. A true Independent, in every aspect of the word, this sleeper from Norway isn't as well known as it should be. While generic output like "Undead" or even worse "House of the Dead" is peddled all over the world, movies with a heart (popping out) often remain forgotten silver. Fortunately, "Bread and Circus" still has cult potential, even more so because it stays true to the spirit of guerrilla film making and it dares to go where no man has ever gone before: quite literally into the anus of mother earth.The story is simple, it's about a fascist regime that censors every form of life outside the ordinary. All the weak and strong, all the dumb and intelligent are cast out and left alone in the nearby woods to die. Until one day when a man rebels against the system, breaks out and with his story inspires a young couple to overthrow the fascist government for good.The movie abounds with symbolism and social criticism as well as fart jokes and gross splatter effects. In the end, this crude mix is what makes the whole thing work. Disgusted by what has become of our world, a place of comfort and conformity, the director expresses his anger and frustration by using images of intense barbarism, almost as barbaric and wretched as the society he sets out to criticize. It's metaphors and blood, a mixture that isn't too appealing to a lot of viewers, the intellectual will be disgusted, the splatter freak might be alienated by the philosophical undertones, everybody else might feel uncomfortably normal, but one thing's for sure, "Bread and Circus" is uncompromising in it's vision, a piece of art that belongs equally in the s**t house as in the art house.Beside that there are countless references to movies and movie history: slapstick humor from the silent era, black humor from the works of Monty Python, a sense of adventure from "Indiana Jones", martial arts sequences in homage to Jackie Chan, powerful use of music as in "Clockwork Orange", splatter effects right out of the trash masterpieces by Peter Jackson, a surreal ending that will remind you of Takashi Miike, actors that seem to come right out of comic books and direction as unyielding as Francis Ford Coppola's in "Apocalypse Now" (BaC was shot over 5 years, on an ever growing budget and a faulty camera that ruined 1/4th of all takes). All in all this is a movie lover's dream come true, a true source of inspiration for every aspiring filmmaker and a rewarding experience for everyone who dares to look beyond the surface.It's a little film with high goals, my recommendation: dream a little dream and have great fun!

Bread and circus was a fun surprise. It reminded me of when I saw Bad taste (1987) for the first time some 15-16 years ago. It doesn't really have all the qualities of Peter Jackson's masterpiece, but it sure has qualities enough to make it worthwhile looking up a copy.The story is about how to avoid becoming a grey salary-man that fits in perfectly in the system from birth. In the future, everybody who is opposing, ugly, violent or just "strange" will be executed. Our hero runs away from his death squad, gets caught but leaves a message on a rune stone which is read two years later by a couple that immediately continues his struggle for liberty. Sort of.In between we get to enjoy an Ilsa-like female officer who rapes a lazy security post (the director, Martin Løke, himself) before she cuts his throat (the very same guy who had a bottle of beer stuck up his anus). We also get to see a man get his head smashed in with a hammer, another one gets his head sliced in two with a machete and so on. The gore'n'guts are all quite well down, very Pythonesque, just like in Peter Jackson's early movies. (6/10)