Michael R. Roskam’s film “Bullhead” (aka “Rundskop”) is a movie featuring two parallel stories involving anabolic steroids. It involves the story of a cattle farmer who becomes “addicted” to steroids to compensate for his sexual mutilation as a child. It also involves the story a meat inspector who was assassinated by the “hormone mafia” because he wanted to expose the illegal trafficking of anabolic steroids for use in cattle and livestock by elements of organized crime in Belgium. The two stories are not really connected but the overall message of the movie is clear. Steroids are evil.
Jacky Vanmarsenille, the aggressive and violent protagonist of “Bullhead”, had his genitals crushed with a rock by a teenage psychopath as a child. Due to his lack of testicles, he has been taking injections of Testoviron (testosterone enanthate) since puberty to replace his natural testosterone. But along the way he became addicted to steroids. Jacky is seen seeking more and more powerful steroids from his dealer to create a hypermasculine physique that serves to compensate for his loss of manhood.
Rather than use Jacky’s story to celebrate the therapeutic benefits of anabolic steroids in cases of hypogonadism or accidental castration, “Bullhead” treats Jacky’s situation as hopeless. Steroids, rather than being seen as a useful therapeutic tool, only lead to the violent and aggressive rage displayed by the half-man, half-animal character of Jacky Vanmarsenille.
Jacky’s story was inspired by the castration of pigs on the farm according to the director.
“Like male pigs are castrated — and I was kind of fascinated by this, you know, it’s action of how they do this and this [having] kid, one kid brutalizing another kid and calling him a pig and they were going to do what they do to dirty pigs,” said Roskam.
The second, largely unrelated narrative that occurs in parallel to Jacky’s tragedy is the story of the “hormone mafia” in Belgium. It involves a policeman who was investigating the illegal trade of anabolic steroids and other growth-enhancing hormones by the so-called “hormone mafia”.
Unlike the United States where the widespread use of estradiol, testosterone, progesterone, trenbolone (Finaplix) and zeranol is legally permitted, the use of steroid hormones in cattle and livestock intended for human consumption is banned in the European Union.
The movie’s murder was inspired by the real-life assassination of Belgium health inspector Dr Karel Van Noppen in 1996. Van Noppen was murdered after trying to expose the international “hormone mafia” that controlled the major meat-producing region of Flanders in Belgium. The trafficking of illegal steroid-enhanced meat was apparently big business in Belgium during that period.
The steroid theme pervades the entire movie. Whether it involves steroid use in humans or steroid use in cattle, steroids are clearly the enemy in this disturbing movie.
Source:
Marsh, C. (February 15, 2012). Movie Review: Bullhead. Retrieved from http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/bullhead/6058
