Blood of My Blood (2015) - Marco Bellocchio

What could certainly be described as an ambiguous endeavor, Marco Bellocchio's Blood of My Blood is a film that focuses much more on theme than narrative, offering up two seemingly unrelated stories that are bound by some familiar themes.  The film begins in the 17th century at Bobbio's Santa Chiara convent, where it has been discovered that a young nun Benedetta has been having a sexual relationship with a priest, who recently died.  Federico Mai, the dead priest's twin brother, arrives on the scene only to learn that his brother will not be buried on holy ground unless it's proven that Benedetta's actions were the devil's doing.  Federico's purpose is clear, to get Benedetta to confess her sins in order to save his brothers' soul.  The priests attempt to get a confession out of the young woman, using every tactic imaginable, such as torture and the typical good cop-bad cop routine, all the while Federico slowly begins to fall under the young woman's spell.  Quite abruptly, the film then jumps to the second story, taking place in modern day Bobbio, where this same convent is now a rundown prison which is inhabited by Count Basta, who may or may not be a vampire.  When tax inspector/con man Federico Mai and Ivan Rikalkov, a Russian Billionaire arrive in town, they attempt to acquire the convent, but find resistance from the Count and a group of town elders.  Marco Bellocchio's Blood of My Blood is a film that I struggled to find the meaning behind, with the first half touching on the corruption of the Catholic Church and its overwhelming influence on society, while the second story seems to focus more on the corruptible nature of capitalism.  While familiar, I found the first half of the film to be far more engaging than the second half, with Bellocchio and his cinematography leaning heavily on classic Gothic visuals, using dark shadows and tight compositions which illicit a sense of rigid structure and helplessness.  The second story is much more comical in tone, but not nearly as engaging, and while I'd argue the film's intentions aren't particularly coherent, Blood of My Blood seems to have something to say about the faults and dangers of groupthink.  The link between these stories is they both seem to speak to the intrinsic violence and peril of conformity and/or obedience, with the first story using religion while the second uses economics to get this point accross.  Both stories show the susceptibility of the individual under the desires of society, with Blood of My Blood getting to this concept through a very confounding narrative and in all honestly this theory could be a bit of a stretch to some viewers.  Blood of My Blood isn't an easy viewing experience, it leaves a lot of confounding loose ends, and it certainly could have benefited from a stronger second half, yet Marco Bellocchio's film touches on some important concepts about the deterioration of individualism under the weight of the collective.

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