Rating: 2.5/5
Hooptober 7.0 | 23/32 | disease-based 3/3
CW // Disease, Death, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Torture, Misogyny
the Year of our Lord ⬩ 1348 ⬩
The fumes of the dead hung in the air like poison. A plague more cruel and more pitiless than war had descended upon us. A pestilence that would leave half our kingdom dead. Where did it come from? What carried its germ? The priests told us it was God's punishment. For what sin, what commandment must we break that would earn this? No, we knew the truth. This was not God's work, but devilry or witchcraft, and our task, to hunt down a demon as God's cure.
Osmund (Eddie Redmayne) is a novice monk at a monastery. Though he worries about following God, he has already disobeyed by hiding a woman named Averill (Kimberley Nixon) in the monastery. But after Brother Ignatius dies of the plague, the monastery no longer feels safe. Osmund sends Averill to Dentwich Forest to hide until the plague passes. Averill urges him to come with her, but he feels torn in deciphering God’s will.
Ulric (Sean Bean) arrives at the monastery to find a guide through Dentwich Forest. Word is that a village in the marshland has somehow avoided the plague. Ulric intends to locate it. Taking it as a sign, Osmund volunteers as a guide. The Abbot warns Osmund about Ulrich and what is out there. But Osmund has prayed. And God has answered.
When Osmund meets the other men in Ulric’s team, they give him the complete story of the village — that it follows a demon who takes human sacrifice and raises people from the dead. The bishop wishes to bring the necromancer to execution.
The movie follows the men on their journey and the trials they face. Their mission shows them the world of superstition that cannot understand the meaning of a plague.
The movie is a little dull until they arrive at the village. Then it turns into a medieval Wicker Man, at least for a bit.
— Word of the pestilence has not reached you? — Word is all that has reached us.
Unfortunately, the movie abandons any ambiguity by the end, complete with several monologues and voiceovers.
The movie is not very gory. It’s more squelching sounds than anything (an exception in the spoiler zone).
I liked aspects of the score. It wasn’t anything innovative, but it had some motifs and textures that hit the pleasure center.
Overall, the movie is uneven and a bit of a drag. You might enjoy the story better than me.
** Spoiler Zone **
- Langiva rolling her eyes during the prayer is a mood.
- Of course, Sean Bean’s death is brutal — dismemberment by horses.
- I don’t know why we needed Osmund to become Anakin in the movie’s final five minutes.