Rating: 2.5/5
Hooptober 6.0 | 7/32 | film whose year ends in ‘6’ 1/6 | decades 1/6 | 1920s
CW // Antisemitism, Fatphobia, Ableism, Blood
The scene of ‘The Bells’ is laid in Alstia, in a hamlet at the foot of Mount Snowtop, during the great snowstorm of Christmas 1868
Mathias is an innkeeper and owns the village mill. He wishes to be the burgomaster in Alstia. So, he offers local leaders credited food and alcohol but does not collect. His wife, Catherine, worries about their debt because of his favors.
Jerome Frantz owns much of Mathias’s debt. Frantz will forgive Mathias’s debt if he can marry Mathais’s daughter, Annette. Mathias refuses, intent on finding his way.
The snowstorm builds as everyone finds warmth indoors. Baruch Koweski, a merchant from Warsaw, asks to stay at the inn for an hour to warm up. Mathias drinks with him for a bit. He plots a way to take the merchant’s money to pay off his debts.
Then, as Baruch leaves, Mathias trails behind him. Before Baruch can board his sleigh and go, Mathias strikes him on the head with an axe. Baruch, as he is dying, rings the sleigh bells.
Mathias takes the coin off of Baruch’s dead body. Mathias may get what he wants, but the bells will haunt him.
The synth score as it started sounded like 3 Doors Down. That passed, but it’s still a very intense and lush soundtrack!
The sets are beautiful and intricate, doing a tremendous job of establishing time and place.
The pacing is slow to get going but revs up about halfway through. The murder scene is grim for the period.
Overall, the movie does its thing well — it just didn’t grab me.