Reclaiming “Reclaiming the Blade”

[xvikingx]

Okay, let’s see if we can stay the course this time. Dana Abbot exponents please keep your distance.
Did anybody actually see this? I am interested in seeing it but not nearly interested enough to buy it in order to see it.

[pgsmith]

Here is a link to the first actual review of it that I've run across ... http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?t=96547

[Halcyon]

Funny you should mention this. Put it on my Netflix list. Scheduled to arrive tonight. Will write a review of it soon.

[Toecutter]

Funny you should mention this. Put it on my Netflix list. Scheduled to arrive tonight. Will write a review of it soon.
I didn't realize this was in Netflix, those of you that can stream it, it is also available for instant queue, I just added it as well.

[pgsmith]

Cool!
It will be good to get some actual opinions of the film itself. However, judging by the one review, it doesn't sound extremely promising.

[Halcyon]

Ok. Watched it last night. Here are some thoughts.

The main thrust of "Reclaiming the Blade" is how Western medieval sword arts have been largely lost to history, and the recent movement among some aficionados to revive them.

The documentary is at its best when it uses footage from movies new and old to underscore our enduring fascination with the sword and sword play, and when it introduces various groups in Europe trying to revive the lost Western martial arts.

But it has some serious flaws as a documentary, mostly in its rambling narrative structure. It also uses some very cheesy animated graphics as transitions. These are pretty clumsy as a storytelling device and really bring down the production value overall. These are the kinds of flaws that one rarely sees in a tightly produced doc on the Discovery Channel or the History Channel. The flaws are all the more surprising considering some of the interview subjects they managed to score, including Viggo Mortensen of Lord of the Rings fame and John Rhys-Davies as narrator.

I don't know if this documentary was ever released in theaters, as was originally suggested on the trailers that I saw online. But if it did not get a theatrical release, I can totally understand why. I could see a studio pulling the plug on a theatrical release. It lacks the polish and production value that theatrical audiences would expect. The audio in some of the interviews is almost unintelligible -- a serious flaw in mixing is my guess. The running time of about 1 hour and 20 minutes also puts it in a stange limbo territory between something intended for TV (45 min to 55 min depending on whether it's running on a commercial channel or PBS) and a feature-length film.

That being said, "Reclaiming the Blade" should still be entertaining to people who have an interest in sword arts of various kinds. There is a brief mention of kendo and other Eastern martial arts, but mostly as a counter-example to how Western martial arts have been lost and devalued compared to them.

[xvikingx]

Finally, a review. Cheers Paul.

[Rennis]

The audio in some of the interviews is almost unintelligible -- a serious flaw in mixing is my guess.

More likely in the recording of the interview than the mixing process, but that is neither here nor there.