Blood and Gold Review: Tries to Bring Together Pulp Western and War | Netflix Film
Cast: Robert Maaser, Marie Hacke, Alexander Scheer
Director: Peter Thowarth
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3/5 (three stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Blood and Gold (Blood & Gold) is a 2023 war action-drama film directed by Peter Thorwarth, starring Robert Maaser and Marie Hacke. In the last days of the Second World War, a German deserter and a woman are involved in a bloody fight against Nazi soldiers in search of hidden treasure. It’s no secret that Netflix’s hunger for content has often turned against Reed Hastings’ streaming service. While being able to count on successful productions, such as Stranger Things or Wednesday, the Netflix catalog periodically welcomes proposals that seem to arise more from the need to necessarily enrich the list of viewings, than from the desire to offer worthy entertainment. To renew this fluctuating nature of Netflix is Blood and Gold, a film available from next May 26, which reconfirms how quality and quantity are not always good companions.
Since the appearance of the first trailers, Blood and Gold has been accompanied by a subtle fear of being faced with a story that aimed to revive a now stale plot, without being able to give a real boost to captivate viewers. The editing of the trailer, cunningly (or maybe not?), aimed to give the sensation of being in front of a film that paid homage to the biting cinema of Quentin Tarantino, who with Inglourious Basterds had grappled with a plot in which story and action matched a happy summary. However, this forced search for a point of contact with the public’s imagination is the result of an artistic vein that wants to fit into the directorial vision of the American filmmaker. It is a fact that Tarantino has made school with his personality, with his films he has not only influenced the spectators but also stimulated the creativity of the sector, which has seen in his camera movements and in his peculiarities elements to codify a new visual grammar.
Blood and Gold Review: The Story Plot
Blood and Gold is set in 1945, in the last moments when Germany was ruled by the Nazis. In these last flashes of madness, some German soldiers dare to express their dissent, being branded as deserters. Fate falls to Heinrich (played by Robert Maaser), who during the return journey from the front to go in search of his daughter, is captured by a group of SS soldiers, who do not hesitate to capture him, branding him a traitor and finally hanging him. Certain that they have punished a deserter, the SS men continue their journey, moved by a far-from-noble interest: to recover and take possession of the treasure of a Jewish family.
Led by a greedy commander played by Alexander Scheer, these soldiers are faced with the reticence of the villagers where this treasure is hidden, who do not hesitate to put up fierce resistance to protect the wealth they hide. While a subtle game of deception begins in the village, Heinrich can recover from his encounter with the SS. Rescued at the last moment by the young peasant Elsa (Marie Hacke), the soldier is treated by the woman and her brother, a boy suffering from Down syndrome, but is forced to intervene to save them when the SS soldiers who had almost killed him attempted to plunder Elsa’s farm. From this new encounter, Heinrich’s battle against these ruthless Nazis arises, which explodes into a fight without a quarter.
Blood and Gold Review and Analysis
As this rescue takes place, the SS arrive at the quiet village. They are looking for one specific thing: the gold of a Jewish family who once lived in the village and then disappeared, it is not known whether they fled or were kicked out. In the place, however, no one seems to know where this gold is, and the inhabitants live serenely and peacefully, taking full advantage of their distance from the center of the action. The arrival of the SS will upset the balance, blood will be shed, and old secrets will come to light. Blood and Gold try to tell the latest events of the SS and the deserter soldier daringly and grotesquely. In terms of tone and action, it takes its hands full of Quentin Tarantino.
Tarantino’s senseless splatter explosions and the insistent combination of iconic soundtracks are in contrast with very violent scenes. Tarantino’s exaggeration of the characters. The result, however, is nowhere near successful. Heinrich is a sort of Aryan super soldier, indestructible, with high cheekbones and always perfect hair, he seems to have come out of a cartoon or a meme. Elsashe is a simpleton peasant girl hardened by loneliness. The two will begin a sort of relationship based on a couple of dialogues. The SS, especially their leader, and deputy, are comic book villains, psychotic and irrational, and scarred to boot. The whole thing is summarily superficial, unnecessarily bloody, and raw. It would have been better in the comic version.
The weakest point of the feature film, however, is represented by a gallery of flat and two-dimensional characters, who never undergo any real change or evolution during the adventure. Heroes, villains, victims, and perpetrators: all listlessly play the archetypal role that has been assigned to them by the canvas without, beyond the masks of the characters, being able to glimpse a glimmer of humanity and authenticity. The film does not represent a path of growth or evolution of our characters, and unfortunately, Elsa’s journey is no exception, even if she is forced to transform abruptly from a peasant girl to a Nazi hunter. Taking the characters of Blood and Gold to heart is a feat: the Nazis are not detestable, our heroes are anemic shapes and completely devoid of personality, and the petty villagers – who could in all respects represent the only interesting figures –have too little playing time available to leave their mark.
For their part, the interpreters do their best to give a minimum of solidity to the narrative and at least keep the core of the story intact and plausible, but nothing more. Of course, it could have been worse. All in all Blood and Gold does a decent job of entertaining action lovers and carries out its narrative mission without too much infamy and any praise. Once again, however, the streaming platform with the red “N” on a black field seems to want to focus exclusively on quantity, without taking into account the least quality: Peter Thowarth’s film seems to have been made in a hurry and without too many pretensions, relegating an excellent trailer has the task of winking at Tarantino and “trap” as many viewers as possible. On balance, the basic idea would be there, the atmosphere too, the potential is not lacking, and some elements could even be successful: to penalize every assumption, however, contribute to a lack of attention to detail and an overall lack of ambition on the part of the production. Unfortunately, familiar elements, which seem to be reflected in many, too many other similar titles in the Netflix catalog, are released by the platform without adequate narrative and cinematic refinement.
Instead of investing in truly innovative or quality products, the broadcaster seems increasingly determined to flood its catalog with products with flamboyant covers and mediocre content. A consolidated trend of which, unfortunately, Blood and Gold are only the most recent piece. In the fight scenes, are extreme concerning the context and not very convincing, it is even more asynchronous concerning the plot, due to excessive enthusiasm in bringing out Heinrich’s violent soul. In this sense, a parterre of characters who are the sum of the typical stereotypes of the genre does not help. The Nazis of Blood and Gold are not villains but caricatures, so extreme in their perfidy and their methods that they never create a real sense of hatred towards them in the viewer, due to their colorless character, devoid of personal traits that make them exclusive figures of this story.
Blood and Gold is a slave to this nebulous personality, a desire to present a story that might seem compelling on paper, but whose staging is forced, animated by such forced choices that they deprive the viewer of the taste for discovery. There are no twists, there is no revealing dialogue or adrenaline-pumping moments that give panache to a tired and predictable plot, in which the only emotional outbursts are out of focus and never necessary. Protagonists who are not empathetic but only alter egos obliged by contract, villains who are such because they are forced into this role by a narrow and scholastic plot. Blood and Gold is yet another product in the Netflix catalog that will end up in the oblivion of the mammoth offer of the streaming service, where the very few truly worthy proposals often sink.
Blood and Gold Review: The Last Words
Despite the excellent narrative premises and the explicit allusion to Tarantino, Blood, and Gold betrays all expectations and transforms Nazis, adventure, and treasure hunting into a weak and listless tale, crowded with many two-dimensional characters. Blood and Gold fail to center the focus of its narrative, giving life to a story devoid of stimuli and exciting figures. Tired acting and a lackluster pace condemn Netflix’s new proposal to the role of filler for a catalog with obvious difficulty. In terms of tone and action, it takes full hands from Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino’s senseless splatter explosions and the insistent combination of iconic soundtracks are in contrast with very violent scenes. Tarantino’s exaggeration of the characters. The result, however, is nowhere near successful.
