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How entertaining? ★☆☆☆☆
Thought provoking? ★☆☆☆☆ 2 January 2011
This a movie review of SEASON OF THE WITCH. |
“And you, Behmen! All you needed was a child to save. Someone to ease your pitiful guilt. Did you truly think that saving one ragged waif would change anything? Come, Behmen. Your sins are legion. How many innocent have fallen beneath that very blade?” The Girl (Claire Foy)
Who doesn’t love a medieval thriller? THE NAME OF THE ROSE is an extraordinary novel turned into an excellent film. However, not many of these are made. Within a year though we have two: BLACK DEATH (from the director of SEVERANCE and TRIANGLE) and the SEASON OF THE WITCH (from the director of GONE IN 60 SECONDS and SWORDFISH – not an obvious choice of filmmaker).
Who doesn’t love a medieval thriller? THE NAME OF THE ROSE is an extraordinary novel turned into an excellent film. However, not many of these are made. Within a year though we have two: BLACK DEATH (from the director of SEVERANCE and TRIANGLE) and the SEASON OF THE WITCH (from the director of GONE IN 60 SECONDS and SWORDFISH – not an obvious choice of filmmaker).
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This period is said by some to be the worst time in history to have lived – religious persecution, war and plague, among other things curtailing life spans and human rights. Commencing in the year 1235, there is a hanging of three women accused of witchcraft. It seems that two of them actually are. The movie then jumps to 1332 and the Crusades. We meet two soldiers and friends, Behmen (Nicolas Cage) and Felson (Ron Perlman). We follow them through various war montages in various settings as they kill various people.
After all this devastation they finally grow a conscience after a massacre of women and children. Going A.W.O.L. from the army, Behmen and Felson are caught in a town that has suffered from the plague for the last three years. The religious leader (Christopher Lee) offers the duo freedom if they escort a supposedly dangerous witch to another town, which contains a book that is needed to be read to properly kill the witch. Behmen is reluctant to work for the church again after his experiences in the Crusades, but relents in exchange for her fair trial. So a supposedly tense expedition is set in motion. There are neither thrills nor atmosphere. The lighting of the film could have been evocative (contrast John Mathieson’s work in KINGDOM OF HEAVEN), but instead the look is bland, and the CGI is crummy.
SEASON OF THE WITCH appears critical of medieval religious philosophy, while also saying that witches exist. It never explores why women are chosen as such vessels, or why witches exist. If witches exist, what else does? None of these questions are asked. A dull experience all round. See instead BLACK DEATH, a more interesting exploration of the times as a horror film.
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