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nThe Witch (2015)
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nDirector: Robert Eggers
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nCast: Anya Taylor Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, HarveynScrimshaw
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nThe quintessential ‘good horror film’ is a diamond in thenrough, hard to find, elusive, so when it comes across your path you thank thencinematic gods for it; you cherish it like the delicacy that it is. The Witchnis such a film, a true blue fantastic horror film that plays with your notionsnof religiosity and the supernatural. It takes place during the sixteenthncentury in New England, a place and time in which being a witch meant you’d getneither tortured or hanged, most of the time both.
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n On a personal note, it’s interesting that I saw The Witch daysnafter taking a college class on the late works of William Shakespeare. On saidnclass I wrote an essay on the supernatural elements in Shakespeare’s Macbeth.nIn this essay, I wondered if Macbeth, the power hungry king, had actuallynspoken to witches and seen actual ghosts and apparitions, or if it was all justnpart of a head trip in his guilt ridden mind. I concluded that it was a littlenbit of both. The Witch is similar to Macbeth in that sense; it keeps you on anloop about the witches. Are they real? Are the village folks simply biblencrazy? Are they simply religious fanatics willing to take their beliefs to thenextremes? Or are witches really snatching up babies for sacrificial purposes?
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nOn The Witch we meet a family of Puritans who are psychologicallyntraumatized by the fact that their baby has disappeared. I mean, literally, thenbaby was there one moment and the next it wasn’t, vanished into thin air. Tonmake matters worse, the baby disappeared while under the care of the adoptedndaughter of the family, a girl whom they’ve always suspected of being a witch.nBut is she? Are they just looking for a scapegoat to blame? As you can see,nthere are always two possibilities to everything in The Witch; there’s that ambiguitynto the story which I loved. You’re never really sure where to stand, which innmy opinion makes the film incredibly effective.
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nArtistically speaking the film is a wonder to behold, thenart direction, the wardrobe, the dialog; it all evokes its era to perfection.nFor starters, the film was mostly shot with natural lighting, this means,nlittle to no artificial light was used during the shoot, which gives the filmnan amazing look. Interiors were lit with candles; exteriors were lit by thensunlight. Few directors have pulled thisnoff effectively because it’s a difficult way to shoot a film, a lot can gonwrong; you risk images ending up grainy and losing definition. Yet on ThenWitch, this natural lighting goes so well with the era they are depicting, annera where there was no electricity. Last time I checked, Stanley Kubrick wasnthe last one to pull this off perfectly in Barry Lyndon (1975). So The Witchnhas a great spooky dark look to it. Another added bonus that adds authenticitynto the film is that the dialog rings true. It doesn’t feel out of time or place;nthis is due to the fact that they used real life accounts of “witchcraft” tonwrite the screenplay. This is why the dialog sounds like something straight outnof Shakespeare.
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nThey also got the behavior of these characters right. Younfeel the backwards mentality of these Puritan Christians. You believe theyntruly think evil lies within the woods. You feel the paranoia, you feel thatngenuine fear of God and the Devil and you feel how dangerous it all is. Hownonce you got blamed for possibly being a witch meant you were going to go downneven if you weren’t, because now doubt had been planted. The film shows howndangerous religion and hive like mentality can be. How superstition can turnnits back on you and bite you in the ass in a heartbeat! I mean, back then they used witchcraft as annexcuse to kill a person. Let’s say you were a rebellious woman who had annopinion, suddenly they’d blame you for witchcraft and boom, days later you’d benhanging from the ugly end of the rope. A lot of innocent women died this way.nSo you get that vibe with this film, that when the masses turn on you, you’rendone for. For more films dealing with witchcraft watch The Crucible (1996),nWitchfinder General (1968) or Haxan: Witchcraft through the Ages (1922), thenlast one being an exploration of the origins of witchcraft.
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nI have to hand it to director Robert Eggers for doing hisnhomework and making sure every little detail is faithful to the time period, the 1600’s. Inmean, so many things worked in favor of this film, right down to shooting in a remote, real location where these actorsncould cut loose, that was genius. This isn’t some set in a green room, thenexteriors were shot a real location, with real freaking trees and mountains andnwind, that’s a plus for me in this day and age of computer generated everything’s. The isolated location lends itself to making everything look evil somehow, you know those films that make even nature and animals look evil somehow? Films like Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist (2009)? Well, that’s what they achieved with The Witch, where even aninals look like they could have evil within them, more so if they are black goats. And speaking of solid performances, that’s what you get all around. Specialnshout out to Harvey Scrimshaw, the child actor who portrayed the characterncalled ‘Caleb’, he really knocks it out of the park with his performance. Henportrayed a child whose psyche has been damaged by religion and its fears. Andnwhile I’m at it, kudos to first time director Robert Eggers who made this finenfilm on his first outing. Here’s hoping this wasn’t just some fluke and he endsnup making more films as good as this one.
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nRating: 5 out of 5
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