Bread and Circus (2003)

One man's courage and will to break loose from the system, and the ability of one individual to bring down the kingdom.

Director:

Martin Loke

Writer:

Martin Loke (story)

Stars:

Oliver Boullet, Miriam Johansson, Martin Loke

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Oliver Boullet	...	Oliver
Miriam Johansson	...	Miriam Johnsen / Mother Earth
Martin Loke	...	The Normal One / Post 2 / Voice in speaker / Voice of Monks / Goat chewing
Magne Jahrestein	...	The King
Silje Andresen	...	The Princess (as Silje Andreasen)
Benjamin Rørstad	...	Post 1 / First appearing monk
Lars Torp	...	The fugitive - Old / Third appearing monk
Lars Erik Ringstad Nordrum	...	The fugitive - Young
Lise Løke	...	Second appearing monk / Girl going into anus
Hilde Løke	...	Woman in radioroom / Voice of Mother Earth
Fredrik Løke	...	Exposed monk
Frank Løke	...	Sleepy guard / A dreg of society
Eivind Pedersen	...	Butler
Andre Iversen	...	Guard 1 in front of King
Vegar Bakke	...	Guard 2 in front of King

Storyline

In a kingdom, a man is born as a child to Mother Earth. He's checked for normality, confirmed normal, and is let into the system. The man gets old, and the system has no use for him. So he's brought out to be executed. The man gets flashbacks, and understands what his life has been. So he hammers out a message on a piece of stone, for coming generations. Later, a couple finds the message, and journeys out to put an end to the oppressive system.

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Plot Keywords:

body horror | electronic music score | slapstick comedy | earth | mother earth | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy | Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Norway

Language:

English Norwegian

Release Date:

1 June 2012 (Norway)

Also Known As:

Brød & Sirkus

Box Office

Budget:

NOK 600,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wring Wrong Films

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

To avoid copyright problems the makers used old classic music in the film, like the works of Beethoven.

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Connections

References Apocalypse Now (1979)

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Soundtracks

Fireworks Music/Water Music
Allegro - Andante
Written by George Frideric Handel (as Handel)
Copyright Naxos

User Reviews

Realism, sure - real surrealism!

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)