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Post by mikef6 on Jun 9, 2017 1:20:52 GMT
Black Death / Christopher Smith. This was really a pleasant surprise. It’s a moody and brooding meditation of faith and fate set in 14th century England during a extremely virulent period for the plague. With wholesale death going on in the cities and the country, superstition and proclamations of God’s wrath are common and heard everywhere. A band of scruffy crusaders led by Sean Bean show up at a monastery. They have heard that there is a village with no plague in a faraway wood. They have been sent by the Bishop to see if there is devilry going on. A young monk (played by Eddie Redmayne in an early standout performance) who is uncertain about his vocation and who was raised near there (and wants to see his girlfriend) agrees to be their guide. In most films set in the distant past, there is at least one character who anachronistically speaks for the modern person. Not here. They have to examine what faith means, what it means to serve God, but in their own way. If God sent the plague, then is it against God, is it pagan, to keep the plague out of your town? The film is filled with serious performances starting with Bean and Redmayne and including Carice van Houten and Tim McInnerny as the village leaders. Kimberly Nixon is the monk’s lady love. David Warner makes a strong impression in the small role as the Abbot of the monastery. There is plenty of the brutal violence that you would expect from a brutal time, but there are also plenty of clever ideas and questions that arise from the crusaders’ investigation.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2017 3:40:52 GMT
I found this an excellent film, very well done!
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Post by kuatorises on Sept 13, 2017 19:35:49 GMT
I only saw it once, but I thought it was very good. A different kind of horror movie.
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Post by Morgana on Sept 22, 2017 9:11:50 GMT
Black Death / Christopher Smith. This was really a pleasant surprise. It’s a moody and brooding meditation of faith and fate set in 14th century England during a extremely virulent period for the plague. With wholesale death going on in the cities and the country, superstition and proclamations of God’s wrath are common and heard everywhere. A band of scruffy crusaders led by Sean Bean show up at a monastery. They have heard that there is a village with no plague in a faraway wood. They have been sent by the Bishop to see if there is devilry going on. A young monk (played by Eddie Redmayne in an early standout performance) who is uncertain about his vocation and who was raised near there (and wants to see his girlfriend) agrees to be their guide. In most films set in the distant past, there is at least one character who anachronistically speaks for the modern person. Not here. They have to examine what faith means, what it means to serve God, but in their own way. If God sent the plague, then is it against God, is it pagan, to keep the plague out of your town? The film is filled with serious performances starting with Bean and Redmayne and including Carice van Houten and Tim McInnerny as the village leaders. Kimberly Nixon is the monk’s lady love. David Warner makes a strong impression in the small role as the Abbot of the monastery. There is plenty of the brutal violence that you would expect from a brutal time, but there are also plenty of clever ideas and questions that arise from the crusaders’ investigation. It was interesting, I enjoyed it.
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