Flesh & Blood (also known as The Rose and the Sword on some early VHS releases) (1985 film) directed by Paul Verhoeven. The film is set in 1501 in Europe, following a group of mercenaries as they loot, rape and kill.
The script is partly based on unused material for the Dutch TV series Floris, which was the début for Gerard Soeteman, Paul Verhoeven and Rutger Hauer.
Plot
The film begins in 1501, where an unnamed city in Renaissance Italy is under siege. Many mercenaries were hired by the city's former ruler, Arnolfini (Fernando Hilbeck), to reinstate him. To motivate his mercenaries, Arnolfini grants them 24 hours to take any spoils they can find within its walls if they succeed in taking the city. The motivation works—the men successfully take the city and slaughter the defenders.
Arnolfini turns to the mercenary captain, Hawkwood (Jack Thompson), to stop the men's rampant pillaging, fearing there will be nothing left for him to rule. Hawkwood is indifferent to Arnolfini's demands. He had accidentally attacked a young nun during the attack and feared her death would doom him to eternal damnation. Arnolfini promises to get medical attention for her if Hawkwood will rein in his men. Hawkwood reluctantly agrees, even turning on Martin (Rutger Hauer), his friend and second-in-command. Arnolfini's cavalry, who are personally loyal to him, round up the foot-soldiers. The mercenaries are summarily ejected without food, weapons, or shelter. They disperse throughout the Italian countryside, bitter and angry.
Martin's son is stillborn to one of the camp followers in the pouring rain. Martin buries the infant, but in doing so unearths a wooden statue of Saint Martin of Tours - a saint with a sword. The mercenaries' cardinal takes this as a sign from God that they should all follow Martin as their new leader. Desperate, Martin and his small band soon head out to seek revenge and better fortunes.
Meanwhile, Arnolfini's son, Steven (Tom Burlinson), is betrothed to Agnes (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a young woman he has never met. Steven is an intellectual who prefers working on his inventions to romance or politics and has misgivings about the arranged marriage, but Agnes wins him over once they finally meet. Their entourage is soon attacked and robbed by Martin's band who have taken to brigandage. Arnolfini is seriously injured in the attack, and Agnes hides so the mercenaries will not find her. She is hauled away, hidden among her valuable dowry.
Martin discovers Agnes later that evening as they begin to strip the caravan of all its valuables. The men seek to gang rape the pretty noblewoman, but Martin (as their new leader) decides to take her himself. She immediately begins flirting with and attempting to seduce the virile Martin, realizing that he will protect what he considers "his."
Martin, Agnes, and the rest of the band come upon a castle, some of whose inhabitants are suffering from the Plague. The mercenaries capture the place with ease, thanks to the help of Agnes, who appears to be adapting to her new circumstances remarkably well. They set themselves up in style, and Agnes begins grooming Martin as a feudal lord. He enjoys his new, fine clothing (formerly belonging to the castle's owner), the food, and the notion of being a Peer. While a competent soldier, he has never dreamed of having so much. Agnes recognizes this, and strokes his ego whenever possible to aid her position. She proves herself a remarkable manipulator, and succeeds in making Martin fall in love with her. Before long she seems almost to be enjoying herself, and is soon considered part of the group by the mercenaries. Seemingly happy with the situation, she appears to have given up on her former life.
Her fiancé is determined to win her back, however. Steven, though well educated, is not a soldier and has only a small group of cavalry at his disposal. He desperately turns to Hawkwood for guidance, but discovers that Hawkwood only wants to lead a quiet life married to the former nun he had injured. Steven is forced to blackmail Hawkwood by threatening to have the nun — now mentally impaired by her injury — locked away, proving that he can be as ruthless as his father when necessary. Steven then pursues Martin with Hawkwood's help.
Steven discovers Martin's whereabouts, but his forces are insufficient to take a defended castle. During the siege Martin confronts Agnes about where her feelings lie in regard to himself and her fiancé. He reveals that he loves Agnes, and could not exist without her, claiming he'd kill her before losing her to Steven. Agnes in turn says she loves them both, because they are one and the same, only of different ages. When Steven builds an experimental siege tower in an attempt to storm the castle, Martin recalls Steven's earlier (failed) gunpowder bomb and uses a version to successfully destroy the mobile siege tower in turn. The stalemate is finally broken when the plague begins to spread among Steven's forces, infecting Captain Hawkwood and others. Trapped in the castle after the destruction of the siege tower, Steven is captured by the mercenaries and shackled in their courtyard.Though she still has feelings for Steven, Agnes joins in the torture and abuse of the captive, and even makes love to Martin in his presence.
Using a new Arabic medical technique mentioned by Steven, Hawkwood is able to cure his plague. He has no forces to continue the siege, and Steven is presumed lost anyway. Before leaving to get additional troops, Hawkwood flings pieces of a diseased dog into the castle via catapult. One chunk lands near the chained Steven, who flings it into the castle's water well, poisoning the water supply. Agnes observes this, and Steven tells her to make her choice whether to tell the mercenaries.
Most of the mercenaries wish to leave the castle and flee with their loot for fear of contracting the plague, but Martin convinces them to stay. The next day they meet for breakfast and Agnes watches as, one by one, they drink the infected water. When Martin begins to drink, she slaps the cup from his hands. The other mercenaries soon begin dying of the plague. Furious at Martin, they beat him and hurl him into the well. As she did before with Steven, Agnes joins in with the mercenaries in taunting Martin and hurls a jug at him.
Soon after, as the mercenaries flee the castle, Hawkwood and Arnolfini, who has recovered from his wound, return with an army. Inside the castle, Martin escapes from the well with the help of Steven, who he promises to release in exchange for his aid. However, on seeing the besieging army, he flees to the belfry, leaving Steven still chained. The castle is soon breached and a bitter but one-sided fight ensues.
Steven frees himself, and as the final battle rages, he races to find Agnes. During the fighting, the wooden structure of the belfry catches alight. Before long, all the remaining mercenaries, save for Martin, are dead. Hawkwood watches dispassionately as one by one his former soldiers meet their end.
Martin confronts Agnes, who professes that she still loves him. Maddened and convinced that she has been manipulating him all along, he seeks to murder her as he promised. However, before he can complete the act, Steven attacks him. The cunning and hardened mercenary eventually overpowers Steven, and has nearly succeeded in drowning him when Agnes strikes him over the head. Leaving the unconscious Martin to drown, she recovers Steven and they run to escape the blazing castle. Hawkwood finds them and leads the pair out. However, Martin is still alive, but before he can confront them, a burning rafter falls from the ceiling, sealing him in. Just before the room completely collapses, we see Martin staring after Agnes with a look of loss, and for the first time, sadness.
Agnes and Steven leave the burning castle along with Hawkwood and his army. We see the surviving camp followers of the mercenaries beginning their careers anew with the victors. The couple embrace, but over Steven's shoulder Agnes sees a figure, Martin, still alive and escaping from the castle, a sack of loot over his shoulder. She says nothing, allowing him to slip away unnoticed.
Cast
References
External links
