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Virgin Territory

AKA: Angeloi & parthenes
Angels and Virgins
Aprendiz de caballero
Chasing Temptation
Decameron Pie
Decameron: Angels & Virgins
Guilty Pleasures
Il Decamerone
Medieval pie — Territoires vierges
Território Virgem

(2008)

A Nunsploitation.Net review

De Laurentis' film version of Il Decameron would also deviate from the anthology format used by the extremely successful 1971 movie adaptation by director Pier Paolo Pasolini. Instead of using a handful of tales told one by one as Pasolini did, de Laurenti's would merge the stories together into a single narrative with a definitive beginning and end. Writer/director David Leland called the anthology format "unsatisfying" and was eager to weave the tales into a single narrative.

However, Leland's patchwork effort is in itself unsatisfying. While some stories flow together well (having Christensen's character hide out in a convent in an adaptation of Bocaccio's "Massetto and the Nuns" worked perfectly), other stories seemed absolutely superfluous. There are several B-stories that involve Pampinea's (Barton's) friends and their adventures as they try to travel to Pampinea's wedding. Every single one of these stories could be cut from the movie without hurting the main story one bit. In fact, Pampinea's friends could be completely removed. They do nothing to move the main story forward.

On an exploitation level, the movie is moderately successful. Specifically, on a nunsploitation level, it's quite successful. De Laurentis' and Leland's adaptation of "Massetto and the Nuns" rivals Pasolini's. Certainly, the nuns in Virgin Territory are hotter than the ones in Decameron, though not quite as hot as the gorgeous models used in Sacred Flesh.

The nun scenes in Virgin Territory are far more bold, raunchy and exploitative than in Decameron. When Lorenzo (Christensen) is found by the nuns, he has fallen from a tree and been knocked unconscious. Two nuns inspect his injuries as he feigns unconsciousness. "Do you think we should take off his clothes to see if he's broken any bones?" one nun asks. "I think we should," the other eagerly agrees.

This scene is fantastic as they experimentally kiss and fondle his body. The whole time, Lorenzo is fully aware and enjoying every moment. The nuns claim that he is deaf and dumb and has fallen from Heaven to aid them. The Mother Superior orders the nuns to bathe him, opening the door to another absolutely awesome scene.

Lorenzo is in the hot tub when two of the sexiest nuns you can imagine with lithe, supple bodies strip down and join him. He lustfully enjoys the carnal delights the two nuns have to offer. Nunsploitation fans should take note that throughout the whole scene, the nuns continue to wear their coifs. The only flaw is that the scene could have been, should have been much, much longer. If this movie were made in the 1970s (or perhaps if it were directed by Nigel Wingrove), it would have been.

One by one, the nuns take Lorenzo again and again for secret romps in the garden. In one scene, two nuns bring him his meal and tell him (though their under the pretense that he's deaf and can't hear) that they know what he's up to — and they want in! "We want what you gave them and we want it now!" they proclaim as they strip before him! Again, another amazing scene that does the injustice of ending prematurely and forces the viewers to use their imaginations. For shame!

The nuns aren't the only ones who enjoy the pleasures their 'dumb and deaf' gardener has to offer. Two of the nuns escort Lorenzo to the Mother Superior. The door closes and... well, sadly, we have to guess what happens. We could use our imaginations, but not even The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine made us do that. The "exploitation" part of "nunsploitation" usually means that the #1 rule of filmmaking is followed to a "T" — give the audience what they want.

While she has no amazing nude scene, Mischa Barton is also amazing as a nun. She has one incredibly sexy scene in which she blindfolds Lorenzo and declares her love for him in one passionate kiss. The scene is enough to make any nun fetishist absolutely green with envy.

When Lorenzo gets kicked out of the convent, the nun scenes end and so does most of the exploitation. There is one more nude scene in which one of Pampinea's friends pretends to be an enchantress rising from a waterfall-fed lagoon to seduce her fiancée (one of many).

The rest of the movie revolves around forgettable jokes, passable sword fights, and obligatory romance.

The new, hip version of Il Decameron falls short of the mark. Switching from an anthology to a single narrative doesn't help when the story is such a hodgepodge. Using a hot, young cast isn't much of a boon when the director and the producer are shy about nudity. Nun of the stars are actually nude in the film. Contrast this with the 1971 Decameron movie in which there was plenty of full frontal nudity for both men and women. While this wouldn't fly in the theater, you can bet it would be a hit as an unrated DVD.

The region 1, NTSC DVD offers some cut scenes with more nudity (the Enchantress scene features full frontal nudity in the extras), a "Making of Virgin Territory" featurette with interviews with the cast and crew, and costume design sketches. The sketches seems like a useless features, but the check it out! Includes some... er... unorthodox designs for nun costumes that didn't make it in the movie... much to our chagrin!

Despite Virgin Territory's shortcomings, we can't help but congratulate de Laurentis for being brave enough to back a medieval nunsploitation film and trying to make it popular in today's market. Nunsploitation isn't exactly the box office buzzword today that it was in the 1970s. Any attempt at a resurgence of the genre is applaudable. The nunsploitation scenes themselves are amazing. Their only flaw is that they weren't longer, more exploitative. If only Leland had been more overt with the sex and nudity. Exploitation is most successful when it is overt and shameless. The film makers seem to be too concerned with making a respectable movie to make a true exploitation film. Their effort, while in many cases laudable, is too restrained for this genre.

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Virgin Territory is available from Video Universe