Thanks Neo, I was fascinated by the depiction of the fencing school; matched my experience with martial arts schools (which fencing is) - especially highly regarded schools (competition, egos/personalities, bullies, rank-obsessed, the "right way" vs "old-school", elements of danger, "cult of personality" of the head instructor, etc). I was also fascinated by the way the skills of Max (the old janitor) were revealed - in bits and pieces and even Villard began to suspect that this worn out old man had skills beyond his appearance. It was also very cool the way Villard gave Max the opportunity to teach (not what we might have expected) - which revealed deeper qualities of Max (and Villard).

I suppose the dream-sequences are supposed to reveal the back-story, but I didn't get who was who - or totally what was going on.
Thru the course of the film we are given hints, but I'm probably guilty of not being more focused as a viewer.

I will probably watch this again too.

Interesting to see that somebody else watched this somewhat obscure movie so recently like me. You are correct and the old dude says that he was given a live weapon while his teacher beat him and humiliated him with a practice weapon. As for whose fault is was....well he does say that the teacher lowered his blade and that is when he stabbed him and he says it was cold blooded murder himself. Anyways it's a fun movie although it's kind of ridiculous how serious some of those students are supposedly about fencing like the new chick that just started fencing.

@aholejones said:

...well he does say that the teacher lowered his blade and that is when he stabbed him and he says it was cold blooded murder himself. Anyways it's a fun movie although it's kind of ridiculous how serious some of those students are supposedly about fencing like the new chick that just started fencing.

I happened to re-watch the last half hour of this film recently and, as you say, the old guy owns up to his cold-blooded murder of the master's father - in a moment of anger. I should have caught that the first time I watched it.

I suppose the pivotal "death match" between the old guy and the head of the school was intended - by the old guy - to serve two purposes:
1) To show the young head of the school, that his own anger and aggression with his students can be taken too far and maybe came from unresolved issues over the death of his father?

2) The old guy - in his own way - out of a sense of guilt (for killing his father) wanted to help the young maestro resolve issues surrounding the death of his father - even if it meant the old guy sacrificing his life?

As for "...how serious some of those students are supposedly about fencing like the new chick that just started fencing"

I've seen this sort of thing happen in world renowned martial art dojos where people apply for instruction from around the world. She was probably pretty good in the smaller school she came from. She came in with an inflated sense of the quality of her skills. But, it didn't take long for her to figure out that she needed to leave her ego at the door.

And yes, they were "serious" because to study at this level you had to have a degree of dedication and passion to be the very best. I suppose you could compare this to any world-class athlete who devotes themselves to becoming the "best". It's a "warrior's path" toward unachievable perfection kind of thing.