(Kist) Black Death

 

Hmm. Perhaps it was because I didn’t go until midnight, but the “Film Festival Experience” was pretty uninteresting. It was a movie theatre in a mall. For me, that’s not very unique or noteworthy. On the other hand, I felt like I could have watched this movie in any theatre and it would have been just the same. Overall, I felt like it was just annoying to drive up to Cleveland at midnight to see the movie I wanted to watch.

 

To turn to the movie itself: I loved it. I was first drawn in by the title: Black Death. How can anyone not want to see it? Okay, I take that back; I’m sure there are some who have no interest in the plague and its effects on the people. For me, it was interesting to put myself back in that mindset and understand a bit more about the panic and chaos that ensues with something this devastating and widespread.  

Film Review for Black Death (2010)

Genre:

IMDB classifies this movie as an adventure, mystery and drama film, which I agree with.

Plot (BIG spoiler alert):

This movie starts out in England at a church.

We meet Osmund, a young monk who happens to illicitly love the woman Averill. When the plague breaks out and many are fleeing the town, Osmund sends Averill back to her home town. She leaves, but tells him that she will wait for a week at a crossroads for him to join her. He prays fervently for a way to be reunited with her, asking God to serve him in any way possible outside of the monastery.

Osmund’s opportunity arrives when Ulric, a warrior on a mission from God, needs a guide through the marshes.

Osmund offers and is sent along with the group, excited because he will pass the crossroads where his lover waits for him.

Osmund learns the true reason for the group’s expedition; there is a town said to reincarnate its dead, which is also entirely free from the plague.

When the group reaches the crossroads, Osmund sets out alone in the early morning, only to find blood and scattered belongings, but no Averill.

He encounters a band of savages who attack the entire party and force them to flee immediately to the village they seek.

All seems well in the village, but something just doesn’t feel right. The town’s “healer” Langiva shows Osmund the body of Averill and tells him that they found her in the marsh. Later that night, Langiva trails him through the forest to a secluded area where she and her maidens bring Averill back to life.

Afraid and confused, Osmund runs back to the village where his companions are already seized by tainted drink. They are all imprisoned by morning.

Langiva gives a speech, proclaiming the woes and negatives of God and his word, because he sent these men to destroy the village’s beliefs and kill the nonbelievers. She says that the plague has not touched them, because they do not believe in the God who now punishes his people.

One by one, the men are taken out and tortured unless they will denounce their god. One man decides to denounce and is led away from the group, only to be hanged in the forest. By the time that Langiva comes to Osmund, she tells him that Averill is in a nearby building, waiting for him to denounce God and be with her once again.

He runs toward the building, only to find a crazed woman who could be said to be a demonic incarnation, with a fascination for knives. He grabs one of them and “kills” Averill, showing her mercy that the witch refused to show. He carries her back, only to be beaten and tortured.

The rest of the men except one fall in battle with the villagers, but Osmund manages to get away in the marsh. He chases Langiva, but does not catch her.

Osmund is returned to the monastery by the remaining man, who has taken the village’s leader (not the intended witch) as proof that the village has been cleansed.

Osmund turned from the church and became a warrior, constantly seeking out Langiva in towns suspected of witchcraft. He executes many women who he “sees” as Langiva, even though they are innocent. He seeks vengeance for Averill’s death, though he cannot find the true cause: Langiva.

 

Themes:

The prominent theme here is the involvement of the church and the effects that that brings on the people. Religion brings such fervor to people that they will do anything to obey the “word of God.” As Ulric did, bringing in a group of mercenaries to execute a witch, it only takes one man to change the fate of an entire village. Someone else’s beliefs are different than an established church and they want to change them.

Sacrifice is another very strong theme in this film. We firstly have Osmund’s sacrifice in sending Averill away, so that she may be safe. Then, Osmund gives up his protection of the monastery to seek his love. The men end up giving their lives for their faith, brining the pestilence to the village to rout out a group of nonbelievers. At the end, Osmund has given up everything—his faith, lifestyle, and nearly his sanity to seek vengeance for one so wronged by others.

 

Technique:

There were a few scenes in this movie in which the camera work was very shaky. It seemed as if they didn’t have a camera dolly and were literally running with the camera. While it gave the movie a first-person effect during these scenes, it was a bit jarring to the viewer, as in it popped me out of the experience a bit.

I think that the technical strengths lie in the actors and their part. The filming was a little weak, but it was all believable and that matters to me.

Acting:

I thought that the acting for this film was very good. Although I only know one of the actors (Ulric, played by Sean Bean, was in the Lord of the Rings films as Boromir), I felt that it was believable and and I wasn’t “popped out” of the movie by bad acting.

The actors chosen for each role fit them perfectly, from the shy but rebellious Osmund

to the bold and unrelenting Langiva.

Representation:

Men and women were represented based off of the time period and they did a good job with this. This film does not represent “the church” in a positive light. For that matter, no religion is played positively here. They all bring death and destruction to their follows in the end. I believe that they did this on purpose to follow with their ideology.

Ideology:

The ideology of this film would be hard to classify, as I have no background knowledge of the producer’s intent. If I had to say what it was based solely on my viewing and analysis of it, I would have to say that the ideology would be that religion (perhaps with a focus on Christianity) is a negative force in the world. My main conclusions here are based on the following instances from the film:

• A group of individuals rounded up a woman from their village who they thought was a witch. They sought to burn her because their village had been hit with the pestilence after she blessed the water. She was a believer in God, but in their search for the cause, they ignored that.
   
• A man who had a “vision from God,” gathered a group of mercenaries to kill a suspected witch because their village had not been hit with the pestilence, whereas everywhere else had.
• Langiva had taken a village of people and gathered them to slaughter the messengers of another people because they did not share her faith.
• A man turns from religion because he could not find solace in the death of his loved one. No one stopped him from murdering innocent women in his drive to persecute Langiva.

Personal Issues:

Hmm. I’m not sure what personal issues come here for me except for having a nontraditional religion/ faith. Even today, anything that is different is perceived as evil or wrong. I would hate to be someone believing in another religion if a disaster hit my area.

The main reason that I wanted to watch this film was due to the time period. I am very interested in the events surrounding the plague and those times. For me, it was educational, even if it was fictional.

 

So what can I say to the filmmakers?

Great job!