One of the motifs in thrillers is that a person's past comes back to haunt him. Michaël R. Roskam's Academy Award-nominated "Rundskop" ("Bullhead" in English) follows this motif but adds a new dimension. Matthias Schoenaerts's Jacky is a steroid-fueled cattle farmer. Making a deal with a beef trader, he soon comes across a friend from his younger years, which brings up several unpleasant memories.I read that this movie is based on the murder of Karel van Noppen, a government livestock inspector who was investigating illegal practices. Basically, it's a look at the ugly things that take place behind the idealistic image of Belgium that we usually get. To be certain, there's a scene from Jacky's past that will really make your blood freeze. But unlike the Hollywood movies focusing on crime, this movie isn't about high action; it's all about the characters and how they deal with events from the past. I recommend it, and I hope to see more of Roskam's movies.

Bullhead is an extremely frustrating film. It sports an incredible performance by Matthias Schoenaerts as a lonely Belgian farmer struggling to cope with an emotionally isolated existence and haunted by an insurmountably troubled past. To say any more would be a total spoiler. As a piece of character drama, this is seriously affecting stuff, made all the more distressing by a truly world- class performance. This would have been enough for a terrific movie.However, the waters are muddied by various other superfluous plot strands; an investigation into the use of steroids in beef, local gangsters killing cops, low-rent hoodlums selling stolen tyres, a gay police informant who also happens to be a long-lost childhood friend, and a slightly implausible love interest. While any of these ideas may have borne fruit in their own movie, the result here is definitely less than the sum of its parts, not least because the aptly sombre tone of the main story is compromised by the intrusion of these other events.Michaël R. Roskam is definitely a director to watch, and I suspect Bullhead will become an interesting curiosity to visit in the context of a great director taking his first steps. Ultimately, the weakness here is in the writing. Roskam's next movie was 'The Drop' (with Matthias Schoenaerts again awesome in a supporting role), which was adapted from a short story by Dennis Lehane and, for my money, is an infinitely superior movie, largely because it doesn't suffer from the same cluttered over-plotting. Like Anton Corbijn , tone and emotion are clearly Roskam's forté and I for one am excited to see what he delivers next.Technical merits for the blu ray are first rate, and the 'making of' piece is watchable, if nothing special.

Outstanding on many levels, i was left stunned by its impressive impact, especially on what this film says about human relationships. The protagonist says to his childhood (true)friend near the end "all i've known is animals....i feel like a bull....i haven't lived a natural life.....to protect a wife, children..." His friend embraced him in empathy, but this was questioned "are you a faggot". Any sign of apparent "weakness" ie. tender emotions, are suspect in this world. He lost his testicles as a child and the treatment he received from his culture was utterly insufficient to compensate for this in many key area's. The response to the traumatic incident completely omitted any restorative justice, leaving him at the mercy of vengeful passions, though his father blindly raged for "justice". At least the child did get a sense off a kind of love there. The family were just left to manage as best they could, in the spirit of the worse kind of "independence", which is another aspect of the wider culture, it's just a question of degree. How can someone inject themselves into a permanent stupor for years and this not be inquired into. Well in a world where introspection and emotional intimacy are marginalized, to be remote from the alpha male world of grunt work, brothels, rat race commerce and criminal tendencies, a wholesome human expression is prevented. The talk of only knowing animals said a lot to me about how our society as a whole functions too much on an animal level and has yet to give birth to its humanness. The child longingly looking at his adult version at the end was just heartbreaking and for me at least, reminded me to cherish our young, to give the utmost support to all their development as a rounded human being.

A very deep, well-written story line. Character development is first-class and the acting is also very good all around. Directing is excellent with a lot of attention to detail.There is a main plot and several interesting side-plots. The flashbacks that give background and significance to what's going on at present time are perfectly placed and not an interruption like so often happens.The ending is excellent too.One thing I didn't like was a part of the final scene that didn't seem to make sense (would a person in that situation really do that?) but overall this one is a winner.