“I order Milan to be raised to the ground. None of its towers will ever be standing. I also order all the Milanese to leave the city before sunset, in all different directions so that no one will be able to call themselves Milanese and the name “milan” will be deleted from all maps.” ~ Barbarossa
In the mood for a bad, corny medieval movie? Horrible dubbing? Sweaty, hunky Italian men screaming Freedom! enough times to make William Wallace blush? Well then, you’ve found your film. Barbarossa is a sad attempt by director Renzo Martinelli cover the conflict between Frederick I Hohenstaufen, a.k.a Frederick Barbarossa, who ruled over Northern Italy in the twelfth century and his Milanese nemesis, Alberto da Giussano, of the Lombard League. Frederick dreamt of conquering all of Italy as a reboot version of Charlemagne; unfortunately, things did not go so smoothly for him and this movie explores why. The movie was released in the US under the title Sword of War. This review, oddly enough, coincides with tomorrow’s 838th anniversary of the famed Battle of Legnano, (May 29, 1176). This was the battle Alberto won for the Milanese against Barbarossa’s Imperial army.
Advertisement
The movie details the beginnings of the war between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines and is actually less about Barbarossa himself and more about the fight for Milanese independence against the Emperor’s encroachment by the legendary Italian hero, Alberto da Giussano, who was a Guelph. Alberto and his famed nine hundred men, called the “Company of Death”, take the Emperor’s German army head on at the Battle of Legnano to show him that he can’t have Milan.
We start off with Barbarossa, played by Dutch veteran Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) being saved from goring by a wild boar. The young boy who saves him is none other than Alberto da Giussano played by Israeli actor, Raz Degan (Alexander). This scene historically never happened and just lends itself to jump starting the plot line. After his near death experience, Barbarossa visits visionary nun Hildegard of Bingen, played by Ángelina Molina (The Obscure Object of Desire) who warns him about crossing water and his pending demise. Meanwhile, Alberto is in love with a strange girl named Eleanora, played by Polish actress Kasia Smutniak (From Paris with Love). She’s accused of being a witch because she can see things before they happen and she uses her abilities to warn Alberto of pending disaster. Their love story runs along the background and doesn’t add anything of value to the movie, it’s just there to appeal to women I suppose, but, as a woman, it sure didn’t appeal to me, it bored me to tears! The love story could easily have been left on the cutting room floor to shave forty minutes off a two hour movie that was way too long. Same with Barbarossa’s wife, Beatrice I of Burgundy played by Cécil Cassel (Sex and the City). She has a few angry lines but is rather forgettable.
Advertisement
“Leave them no rest, deprive them of food and sleep their will to fight will diminish day by day” ~ Barbarossa
Barbarossa arrives in Milan and plans to starve the Milanese out, but first, he launches an attack on the city. There are a few cool battle scenes with archers, trebuchets and siege warfare but it’s all rather Hollywood in execution with explosions that would make Michael Bay proud. Plenty of “slow-mo” action shots a là 300, so if you like that sort of thing, keep watching. The movie is pretty awful but there were a few redeeming scenes. One of the better ones was when Barbarossa captures some of the Milanese and ties them to siege towers forcing their countrymen to shoot them. It’s a heart wrenching scene as the men strapped to the towers are telling their comrades to kill them and the men behind the walls are distraught and devastated to have to shoot their family and friends. They decide to shoot at their men and it forces the Germans to retreat.
“Your days are numbered, old king” ~ Antonio
An angry and grieving Alberto decides to sneak into the German camp and encounters Barbarossa who remembers the youth who saved him from the boar those many years ago. Barbarossa doesn’t call the guards and releases him because he remembers that Alberto saved his life. En route back to the camp, Alberto discovers a traitor in their midst going to visit Barbarossa’s camp. The Lombard League are betrayed and brought before Barbarossa and he orders Milan raised to the ground and that all the Milanese are scattered so that no one will ever be able to call themselves Milananese again. Barbarossa is crowned in Rome while the former Milanese nobles meet in secret at a monastery to plot their revenge by forming the fabled, “Company of Death”. In the end, the Milanese are victorious amid much CGI, slow-mo blood splatter, sweat and blood curdling screams.
I didn’t like this movie. It’s just plain bad; bad acting, bad dubbing, bad CGI. It’s over the top, romanticised, and stiff. Hauer, who is normally a decent actor comes across an impassive and imposing Frederick Barbarossa. He’s not terrible, but he’s not good and his accent is atrocious – he sounds like Clint Eastwood delivering Dirty Harry lines. He could’ve at least tried to put on some kind of German accent; instead he sounds like someone from a Spaghetti Western. Mind you, as wooden as it was, his performance is the best of the lot with Alberto running around yelling lines like William Wallace, looking like Aragorn and acting like Robin Hood. Another great actor, F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus, Homeland) gets lost in this mess as the evil traitor Siniscalco Barozzi. He’s the only other actor with any decent skill to make this movie watchable. This was two hours of my life that I will never get back. Some people might like this movie, it has its B-movie, cheesy but decent moments but it’s marred by the horrific dubbing, bad dialogue and ridiculous battle scenes. It really tried too hard to be an epic movie but it came off as a sophomoric attempt at best. Unless you’re a glutton for punishment, save your time, save your money, avoid this movie like the Black Death!
“I order Milan to be raised to the ground. None of its towers will ever be standing. I also order all the Milanese to leave the city before sunset, in all different directions so that no one will be able to call themselves Milanese and the name “milan” will be deleted from all maps.” ~ Barbarossa
In the mood for a bad, corny medieval movie? Horrible dubbing? Sweaty, hunky Italian men screaming Freedom! enough times to make William Wallace blush? Well then, you’ve found your film. Barbarossa is a sad attempt by director Renzo Martinelli cover the conflict between Frederick I Hohenstaufen, a.k.a Frederick Barbarossa, who ruled over Northern Italy in the twelfth century and his Milanese nemesis, Alberto da Giussano, of the Lombard League. Frederick dreamt of conquering all of Italy as a reboot version of Charlemagne; unfortunately, things did not go so smoothly for him and this movie explores why. The movie was released in the US under the title Sword of War
. This review, oddly enough, coincides with tomorrow’s 838th anniversary of the famed Battle of Legnano, (May 29, 1176). This was the battle Alberto won for the Milanese against Barbarossa’s Imperial army.
The movie details the beginnings of the war between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines and is actually less about Barbarossa himself and more about the fight for Milanese independence against the Emperor’s encroachment by the legendary Italian hero, Alberto da Giussano, who was a Guelph. Alberto and his famed nine hundred men, called the “Company of Death”, take the Emperor’s German army head on at the Battle of Legnano to show him that he can’t have Milan.
We start off with Barbarossa, played by Dutch veteran Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) being saved from goring by a wild boar. The young boy who saves him is none other than Alberto da Giussano played by Israeli actor, Raz Degan (Alexander). This scene historically never happened and just lends itself to jump starting the plot line. After his near death experience, Barbarossa visits visionary nun Hildegard of Bingen, played by Ángelina Molina (The Obscure Object of Desire) who warns him about crossing water and his pending demise. Meanwhile, Alberto is in love with a strange girl named Eleanora, played by Polish actress Kasia Smutniak (From Paris with Love). She’s accused of being a witch because she can see things before they happen and she uses her abilities to warn Alberto of pending disaster. Their love story runs along the background and doesn’t add anything of value to the movie, it’s just there to appeal to women I suppose, but, as a woman, it sure didn’t appeal to me, it bored me to tears! The love story could easily have been left on the cutting room floor to shave forty minutes off a two hour movie that was way too long. Same with Barbarossa’s wife, Beatrice I of Burgundy played by Cécil Cassel (Sex and the City). She has a few angry lines but is rather forgettable.
“Leave them no rest, deprive them of food and sleep their will to fight will diminish day by day” ~ Barbarossa
Barbarossa arrives in Milan and plans to starve the Milanese out, but first, he launches an attack on the city. There are a few cool battle scenes with archers, trebuchets and siege warfare but it’s all rather Hollywood in execution with explosions that would make Michael Bay proud. Plenty of “slow-mo” action shots a là 300, so if you like that sort of thing, keep watching. The movie is pretty awful but there were a few redeeming scenes. One of the better ones was when Barbarossa captures some of the Milanese and ties them to siege towers forcing their countrymen to shoot them. It’s a heart wrenching scene as the men strapped to the towers are telling their comrades to kill them and the men behind the walls are distraught and devastated to have to shoot their family and friends. They decide to shoot at their men and it forces the Germans to retreat.
“Your days are numbered, old king” ~ Antonio
An angry and grieving Alberto decides to sneak into the German camp and encounters Barbarossa who remembers the youth who saved him from the boar those many years ago. Barbarossa doesn’t call the guards and releases him because he remembers that Alberto saved his life. En route back to the camp, Alberto discovers a traitor in their midst going to visit Barbarossa’s camp. The Lombard League are betrayed and brought before Barbarossa and he orders Milan raised to the ground and that all the Milanese are scattered so that no one will ever be able to call themselves Milananese again. Barbarossa is crowned in Rome while the former Milanese nobles meet in secret at a monastery to plot their revenge by forming the fabled, “Company of Death”. In the end, the Milanese are victorious amid much CGI, slow-mo blood splatter, sweat and blood curdling screams.
I didn’t like this movie. It’s just plain bad; bad acting, bad dubbing, bad CGI. It’s over the top, romanticised, and stiff. Hauer, who is normally a decent actor comes across an impassive and imposing Frederick Barbarossa. He’s not terrible, but he’s not good and his accent is atrocious – he sounds like Clint Eastwood delivering Dirty Harry lines. He could’ve at least tried to put on some kind of German accent; instead he sounds like someone from a Spaghetti Western. Mind you, as wooden as it was, his performance is the best of the lot with Alberto running around yelling lines like William Wallace, looking like Aragorn and acting like Robin Hood. Another great actor, F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus, Homeland) gets lost in this mess as the evil traitor Siniscalco Barozzi. He’s the only other actor with any decent skill to make this movie watchable. This was two hours of my life that I will never get back. Some people might like this movie, it has its B-movie, cheesy but decent moments but it’s marred by the horrific dubbing, bad dialogue and ridiculous battle scenes. It really tried too hard to be an epic movie but it came off as a sophomoric attempt at best. Unless you’re a glutton for punishment, save your time, save your money, avoid this movie like the Black Death!
Related Posts
Subscribe to Medievalverse