A great writing class instructor of mine once asked us, “If you are not writing about death then what are you writing about?”  An interesting conjecture because in reality all stories in some form are about death. “The Death of Robin Hood” is not so much about death than about transition. There not much arrows slinging nor battle against the King’s men, no-this is not Errol Flynn being a swashbuckler, or Kevin Costner being a wanderer in love, or Russell Crowe being a gritty rebellion in their versions of the folk hero, no in this version he a vile murderous bandit that kills anything including children. A ravaging outlaw, a bandit that has preyed on the poor and common people. This isn’t isn’t the outlaw raging a guerrilla war against King John’s knights in Sherwood forest. This is a man is now numb to killing and hoping to retain some form an earned quality of good before passing away. “The Death of Robin Hood” is more about the death of who thought he was and his repentance. The film has a poetic flow even though the setting and the characters have a harshness to it.  There is not much in the way of exposition or title cards-the film just jumps in which is refreshing to these kinds of films about legendary folk heroes. The result is a mix between great aesthetic, rich looking film and an empty shell of a story. 

The film will leave you with a great desire for more. It’s wide in its scope and scale, but not in the story. It has a great intro, a great first ten minutes but can’t decide to go after that and instead we spend the next hour or so of Robin Hood in middle ages hospice care as he slowly succumbs to the inflicted wounds he encountered that brought him to the place. There’s little explanation of motive here, including why tear down all the notions and beliefs of what is told of Robin Hood and make him a murderous bandit without a motive in itself for that other than shock value. 

            This is actually greatly edited, and gives off a surreal component that is compelling but the value this film cares about is contrast-to its core. It’s the central motif for all of it. It’s beautiful and gory. It’s tender and harsh. It’s brutal and loving. The film wants to project Robin Hood as complex and worthy of redemption but much of what he gets is unearned. To which nothing is felt for him. We don’t care. The overall aspect to this film is that it is  telling us what people do on their death is their true authentic self, instead much like the movie itself greatest error is  that transitions does not equal atonement. 6/10