Black Death (2010)

[simon p. murphy]

I would have liked to have seen this film subtitled 'The Monk's Tale'.

Watched this last night and it impressed me with how miserably bleak and disturbing it was. It was very much in the vein of 'Heart of Darkness'.
Without giving too much away, I thought that as well as being a fantastic 'plague' movie, it was also a clever commentary on the perpetuation of ideological violence, applicable to all times and places, of course. But what really impressed me was the pacing of the film, and...

**SPOILER ALERT**

how finally a film in recent memory set in Persecutionville (Medieval Europe) has a bunch of bona-fide devil-worshipping evil bastards! No, not just some innocent country girls being accused of casting spells naked in the forest - we're talking about some real sick puppies.

The audience has been so long accustomed to perceving the Inquisition as villains that it really gives you pause to think who the real bad guys are... for a while. The end very much seems to return to the tone set earlier in the movie - bleakness, futility - did I mention bleakness?

I give it a thumbs up. Not my favourite movie of all time, but really impressive for bending some tired tropes into something novel. I'm watching this bad-boy again tonight!

-Simon

[Gray House]

Quote Originally Posted by simon p. murphy

The audience has been so long accustomed to perceving the Inquisition as villains that it really gives you pause to think who the real bad guys are... for a while.

If the Inquisition aren't the real bad guys those devil worshipers must be really bad! I think devil worshipers being evil is more of a trope than their being innocent. Still, saying something is worse than the worst can be an effective way of portraying something really ominous.

[simon p. murphy]

Maybe it's because of my own history with these kinds of films, but my preconception of any movies with witch-hunting involved is that they are usually about a mob of religious fanatics tracking down some cute little Pagan girl, or some person with only slightly varying theological ideas.

Anyway, what you say is indeed correct - you think these guys are nasty, how about these guys? Very few films with this kind of evil vs. evil action (and I mean human moral evil, not werewolves vs. vampires!).

Thanks