The King of the Indies (Il Re delle Indie) by writer/director Gaetano Maria Mastrocinque is a documentary about jousting in Italy, so it has a focus as concentrated as that of its participants. Set in the Tuscan town of Arezzo it tells the story of The Saracen Joust, a chivalric contest which was originated in the 15th century as training for knights.
The game consists of a high-speed gallop at a massive dummy called a quintain, with a target on one side and a counterweight on the other. The riders have to strike the target but not get brained by the swinging counterweight. And if the lance doesn’t connect correctly, then it is like ‘hitting a brick wall.’ Finally, the target itself is divided into fiendishly tricky zones, crowded around a priceless bullseye. It’s like darts on horseback. But the men are the darts.
“The game consists of a high-speed run at a massive spinning dummy…”
The events shown consist mostly of the lead-up to the 2019 tournament and focus on two players in particular: tournament veteran Enrico Vedovini of Porta Sant’Andrea, who is defending a stratospheric winning streak of 13 years, and newcomer Gabriele Innocenti of Porta del Foro, who is trying to break it. There are others as well – the tournament uses eight knights, two from each of the city’s quarters – but they become hard to keep track of once they all slip into the old medieval parkin and climb on horseback.
Does the weary veteran’s last stand end in triumph? Or will the plucky underdog come to the rescue of the eternal losers of del Foro? Bigger clichés have been made of better material, but thankfully, The King of the Indies does a superb job of drawing us into Arezzo, taking its time to explain the event and to discuss with the men their part in a deep and centuries-old equestrian culture.
The film is full of vital imagery. One shot, a close up on hands triumphantly raising the colors of their quarter on a mediaeval cap, could have been from centuries earlier, but for the telltale hipster tattoos along the wrists.
"…a real regional gem..."
