Retaking the Blade DVD Short review

[berzerker]

Two nights ago I found the newly released DVD "Retaking the Blade" at Barnes and Noble. As a fencing coach, I was interested in what they had to say. Although the treatment of each off-shoot of sword usage was necessarily light (length was 78 minutes), it was certainly worth the discounted asking price. Olympic-style, Kendo, SCA, Historical steel on steel, Theatrical--all were treated with respect. There were interviews with Viggo Mortensen, Hank Reinhart, Bob Anderson, and other notables.

I was particulary impressed with the emphasis on the growing scholarly investigation leading to experimentation. It shows the larger world that lovers of swords and their usage are not some pathetic tribe of wanna-bes.

In short it was nice to see a serious video that presented a of a "state of the craft" to the public at large. In these times, that sort of publicity is priceless.

 

[Watchful]

Viggo Mortensen? That guy is a seriously under-appreciated actor. He's great in everything; just never got the attention he deserved.

 

[MVF]

Is that the whole title? I've done an internet search, searched Barnes & Noble.com and went to one of their stores- all with no luck!

 

[the possum]

Actually I think it should be "Reclaiming the Blade".

http://galatiafilms.com/store/reclaiming-the-blade-deluxe-edition.html

I saw the one disc (regular?) edition in Barnes & Noble for about $20 the other day.

Several of the guys who post over on Sword Forums were interviewed for the movie, but few made the cut. Sounds like maybe they're gonna do a sequal focusing more on such groups. ?

 

[berzerker]

Mea Culpa. My old fencing mind got the title wrong--substituted the name of a move for the name of a movie...

It is Reclaiming the Blade.

 

[MVF]

Thanks!

 

[Chris Meyer]

I rented a copy from Netflix. I've watched about half of it so far. It's pretty good, but it was sad to realize that some of the people in the (2009) movie, Paul Champagne and Hank Reinhardt, have already passed away.

 

[Jenner 515]

I rented a copy from Netflix. I've watched about half of it so far. It's pretty good, but it was sad to realize that some of the people in the (2009) movie, Paul Champagne and Hank Reinhardt, have already passed away.

Just watched it this day...Both of these gentlemen passed? Aw dammit, Loved the commentary from both of those men.

 

[JParanee]

I enjoyed it very much

Nice to see people with such interest

Paul Champagne and Reinhardt R.I.P.

Paul Champsgne Tameshigiri Series Deluxe Katana

 

[DEXIX_five-oh]

touchingly, Ron champagnes last words on the DVD were "and i'll be doing this just as long as i can.."

RIP both great gentlemen.

with the exception of John Clemens (of ARMAs) over-authoritative stance, Reclaiming the Blade is a fantastic film, the only thing of it's kind.

too little sword advocation in the modern world.....

 

[berzerker]

I've started to use RTB as part of a sword-movies film festival I run when my classes get relocated out of the gym. [We go compare modern fencing vs theatrical fencing vs historical accuracy, the different styles of sword craft being shown, issues of combat vs. "Hollywood," camera angles, choreography, etc. It's a great way to show how areas of study can interconnect, and encourage curiosity (planting the seeds, as it were).]

Many of the children have toured the Higgins Armoury museum, and have some kind of knowledge base about edged-weapon usage.

I make it a point to tell the fencers (all children) about the huge advances in historical fencing research that have taken place since in the last thirty years--due in large part to scholars (like Hank) using information technologies (eg. scanning, digital document capture, and the internet). I feel it's important for them to know we are always discovering new ways to connect to past.

Sorry to gas on and on. It's just a really great class to teach.