RECLAIMING THE BLADE
Fascinating History
What You Need To Know
For anyone who’s enjoyed LORD OF THE RINGS, CHRONICLES OF NARNIA and other swashbuckling movies, RECLAIMING THE BLADE is a fascinating documentary about the role of all of the various forms of blades in western martial arts.
Narrated by the Welsh actor, conservative Christian John Rhys-Davies, the documentary looks at the wonderful choreography of sword fighting in great movies and focuses on the Renaissance of medieval western martial arts. Legendary Hollywood sword masters, such as Bob Anderson, wonderful filmmakers and renowned actors all discuss reclaiming the blade. Some practitioners in the movie had studied Eastern Japanese and Chinese martial arts and then discovered the captivating literature from the Middle Ages that illuminates the skill and craft of western martial arts. The documentary points out that this is not fencing, which is a highly stylized offshoot — this is full-blooded fighting.
Underneath the discussions of the blades and martial arts is the political and philosophical perspective that the average man should be able to defend himself. In fact, it is made quite clear that the ability to do so produced the greatness that was England, and the moral virtue of self-defense needs to be taught to a new generation.
Anyone who likes action movies will enjoy this entertaining documentary.
