Male Rape Revealed
by Andre Soares
Based on Rupert Thomson’s novel, The Book of Revelation opened this week in Australia. This psychological thriller directed by Ana Kokkinos, and co-written by Kokkinos and Andrew Bovell (Strictly Ballroom), has engendered some controversy because it depicts the horrors faced by a man (Tom Long) who’s turned into a sex slave for three cloaked and masked women. If that wasn’t all, after the ordeal is over no one seems to care about his suffering. Heck, isn’t that sort of rape the sexual fantasy of millions of men everywhere? Well, quite probably yes, but The Book of Revelation draws parallels between female and male rape — why one is considered appalling while the other is the subject of bad jokes.
Kokkinos’ 1998 drama Head On, the tale of a hunky pleasure-seeking gay Greek-Australian, received quite a bit of praise at the time. (Personally, I found it tedious and simplistic.) And The Book of Revelation is already garnering praise in some corners. Michael Fitzgerald’s Time review commends Kokkinos for "turning prose poetry into the magisterial mystery of motion."
The film also stars Greta Scacchi, Colin Friels, and Anna Torv.
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