Raging Bullhead

The mafia is alive and well in Belgium, and the particular group examined in "Bullhead" controls the sale of beef and steroids and manages to combine their two domains by injecting their cows with cocktails that would make an average major league baseball player blush.

Jacky (Matthias Schoenaerts) is a Flemish cattle rancher who buys black market steroids for his cows from the mafia. Jacky is also a big user of the stuff himself. His body is reminiscent of Sylvester Stallone at his most bulging. There is a reason for his obsession with keeping his body extra buff. It dates back to his childhood, but revealing exactly what has brought him to this point would reveal a plot point that would be an unforgiveable offense on my part.

Suffice to say, an incident he endured as a young teen will make your stomach turn with outrage and revulsion. After viewing the scene, I found myself with a mouth wide open in horror and disbelief. Everything that Jacky does almost seems justified after that, and he does not grow up to be an incredibly sympathetic man.

"Bullhead" is powerful and sometimes even more than that, but its anticipated tension is larger than the actions that follow that tension. While it is very good, it never attains greatness. Whether that is because of restrictions of the writing or a flaw in the directing is unclear. It builds like a slow locomotive, only to climax with a fair but far from rewarding explosion.

"Bullhead" is worthy of its nomination for Best Foreign film this year, but it is not worthy of copping the brass ring. There are better out there. However, I apologize if my tone here is one of denigration. It's just that it shows so much promise that I couldn't help but feel a bit let down at the end. That's no bull.