just saw this powerful & intense beligan crime drama- The BullHead...heart breaking story about a man (played excellently by Matthias Schoenaerts) who has to deal with the memories of a traumatic incident of his past for the rest of his life ..very intense & a moving performance...one can imagine his plight and feel for him. this film is brilliant and unforgettable.

There's a clever idea at the heart of 'Bullhead': in a story about the trade in illegal cattle hormones, the central character is, as a result of a painful childhood incident, himself dependent on exogenous testosterone. This is one of a number of Belgian films that paint a very harsh picture of the country: grey, gloomy, run-down, divided and rotten to the core: the focus of agribusiness (and its mechanical approach to life, and death) is unusual and makes for a distinctive subject. However, it's hard to warm to the pumped-up protagonist, and if there is a message here it's all negative: stay away from other people, don't live in Belgium, and perhaps even don't eat meat.

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.

There is something about Rundskop (English title: Bullhead) that cuts right to the core of my being. I can understand why some people may not enjoy the film: for some it is a slow moving bore, and to others it ends on a disappointing note. For me, however, I find it to be a beautiful piece of art. Not only is the cinematography well done, but the film itself is written quite well; I found the story compelling, and also tragic in an almost Shakespearean way. As everything unfolded, I didn't find my mind searching for a who, or why, but simply awaited the what- what was going to happen here? Having seen Matthias Schoenaerts while not knowing who he was in other films, here he commands the screen, and the intensity of his performance is at times suffocating. Jacky is jacked up on steroids and hormones; we find out that it's not simply for lifting weights in vanity, but because of an unfortunate assault he suffered as a young boy at the hands of an older boy. The tragedy of the accident left Jacky a victim without any repercussions against the perpetrator, and a stunted manhood in more than one way. It also separated him from his good boyhood friend who later turns up as a police informant, and accidentally drops back in on Jacky's life, albeit not by choice. Schoenaerts plays an amazingly subdued role at times, and at others he explodes with the ferocity of a man filled with years of built-up sexual frustration crossed with a system brimming with testosterone. The film itself rests on the portrayal of Jacky, but it is lined with a great story about the hormone mafia he comes in contact with. I found Rundskop to be one of the best and most unique crime films I've seen in awhile; also serving as a fine character study of a deeply emotional situation in a troubled man's life. The ending blew me away. Not only did the plot itself end with great intensity, but the final images of Jacky absolutely enthralled me, and I've since rewound the final scenes over and over again to capture that moment where he absolutely implodes while simultaneously exploding. 10 out of 10. Highly recommend to anyone looking to see a different crime film, and a spectacular breakout performance.