You hardly know whom to root for, which is the movie’s point but one that permits little emotional involvement with any of these lamentable human beings.Īn all-British cast brings sufficient vigor to these roles, which includes John Lynch as the knight’s second in command, Andy Nyman as the enthusiastic torturer, Emun Elliott as a mercenary warrior and Tim McInnerney as the commune leader’s glibly smiling assistant. So the film orchestrates a test of will and faith between the bloodthirsty true believers and an almost equally bloodthirsty band of non-believers. The men can hardly wait to start torturing and killing but the witch, sorry, woman, saw them coming long before they entered her village.
Black death 2010 movie analysis free#
Here free love and good health reign under the rule of a glamorous female cult leader ( Carice van Houten). The intent of these soldiers is painfully clear from the mobile torture machine they lug along with them.Īfter a skirmish with highwaymen and an incident involving the monk’s girl start to test the monk’s devotion to his Old Testament God, the somewhat diminished group reaches a small village that essentially contains a hippie commune. This can only mean witchcraft and devil-worship. The monk is to lead the knight and his motley crew of killers and mercenaries (which is all they really are) into an isolated marshland where, rumors insist, a community has mysteriously resisted the plague. The focus here is on two “men of God” - a knight, Ulric ( Sean Bean), who truly believes his sword can slay with impunity in the name of the Father, and a naïve monk, Osmund ( Eddie Redmayne), whose outlook is more equivocal since he has already fallen for a woman and so realizes that things are never quite black or white. In Black Death, Smith and screenwriter Dario Poloni take aim at real horror - painful infections and pitiless death that spread hysterical panic, which causes an already arrogant church to search for scapegoats as all semblance of civil and religious authority crumbles. In Witch, church elders are portrayed as cartoon villains, capable of just about any evil in the name of a vengeful God, but the elders do get the bit about devils right -kick-ass demons are out there bent on destroying humankind. In both films, the church, seeing its grip on the population severely loosened by this inexplicable plague, sends Christian knights into a remote region to determine if witches, demons or non-believers are the source of this frightening scourge. The coincidence of storylines between Season of the Witch and Black Death is rather striking and in every instance Black Death is the superior film. Sure enough, Christopher Smith ( Creep, Severance) plays with the notion of necromancers and demons lurking within the pestilence, but winds up retreating into a kind of historical morality tale told with documentary flourishes and a grim attraction to violence and cruelty. Yet what a strange land for a horror filmmaker to pitch camp in since he has little to add when horror is a fact of everyday life. The story is set in 1348, after all, when the plague began to sweep through Europe, decimating its populace by as much as half and spreading panic to every corner. The film is black all right, pitch black, and death is everywhere. Need more information? It can be found in the video below.You can’t quarrel with that title, Black Death. And remember that you can always ask your supervisor for help if you have any questions!
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The text doesn’t necessarily have to be perfect since you still need to take some time to edit and to proofread it.In the next sections, there are more detailed descriptions of how to get every step done quickly. The last step is writing the first draft of your essay. Don’t forget to support your arguments with evidence and make sure they align with the assignment requirements. You should write down a thesis statement and organize the main ideas. You might find it helpful to take notes or even use a screenplay if you can find one. Take your time and watch the film as many times as you need so that you don’t miss anything. You don’t want to waste your time working on the unrelated subject. Reread the prompt twice! It’s crucial because your thesis statement and main arguments will be based on it.