Anazapta - The Black Death
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Anazapta - The Black Death |
| Original title | Anazapta |
| Country of production | Great Britain |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2002 |
| length | 105 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alberto Sciamma |
| script | Alberto Sciamma, Harriet Sand |
| production |
David Bell , Michael Cowan , Jason Piette |
| music | Dan Jones |
| camera | Alastair Meux |
| cut | George Akers |
| occupation | |
| |
Anazapta - The Black Death (Original title: Anazapta ) is a British historical film from 2002 with Lena Headey in the lead role. The movie deals with the great plague - pandemic mid-14th century. According to the superstition of the time, a vengeful stranger appears as the personification of the Black Death .
action
England in 1348: Lady Matilda de Mellerby eagerly awaits the return of her husband, Sir Walter, who in the three years before the Anglo-French war had moved. From Sir Walter's returned nephew Nicholas, Matilda learns that her husband has been taken prisoner in Brittany . However, Nicholas and his men were able to capture the French nobleman Jacques de Saint Amant, whom they want to exchange for Sir Walter. The exchange of prisoners should also bring in enough money with which Matilda can pay off debts to the bishop. Worried about the welfare of her precious prisoner, Matilda does not put him in the dungeon, but in the mansion. She then asked the bishop to give her ten more days to pay off her debts. Aware of his power, the obese bishop shows her his collection of pornographic drawings and tells her that if the money has not been obtained by then, she will have to satisfy him in all the positions shown in the drawings after the ten days have elapsed.
When the bishop sends her one of the obscene drawings and Matilda, ashamed, stows it in a box, Nicholas becomes curious and tries to get to the document in Matilda's bedchamber. Nicholas is hiding on the canopy of Matilda's bed when she walks in and the drawing burns. In the evening Jacques takes out an amulet hidden in his trousers and begins to say mysterious words. Matilda then begins to fiddle with her chastity belt in bed. When she reaches under her belt with her hand and pleases herself, Nicholas suddenly falls dead on her bed. A doctor examines him and finds the word "Anazapta" carved on the back of the dead man next to tumor-like bumps. For fear of the Black Death, all soldiers are examined. Jacques also has to undergo an examination. The doctor discovers that Jacques has been branded with a cross on his chest and recognizes in him a child that he gave birth to many years ago. Jacques' mother had died in childbirth. The doctor asks Jacques for forgiveness before he runs away in panic.
In his room, Jacques picks up the amulet again. The next morning Matilda wears it around her neck and she recognizes it as a piece of jewelry that once belonged to Joan de Mellerby, the first wife of her husband who died long ago. Jacques has meanwhile disappeared from his room without a trace. Matilda finds him in a wooded area. When he tries to kiss her, she evades him and has Randall, the prison guard, bring him back to his room. The local priest has meanwhile received a letter from Brittany and has Jacques brought to him. The letter from the Compte de Fugiere shows that the real Jacques died on the battlefield. When asked who he really is, Jacques begins to strangle the priest. It turns out that it was this very priest who branded him as a baby. It was also he who, after confession, betrayed Jacques' mother, Joan de Mellerby, to Sir Walter - for Joan was unfaithful to her husband with a man named Thomas Bassett.
When the bodies of the doctor and the bailiff are found and have letters scratched on their backs next to bumps, Matilda realizes that the deaths are related to Joan de Mellerby. When the priest rushes ruefully from the gatehouse in front of the villagers and Randall blames Jacques for it, the mob attacks Jacques. He is said to be subjected to water torture in a well. Matilda, meanwhile, finds the letter from the Compte de Fugiere, which now states that the prisoners are to be exchanged. Matilda rushes to the fountain, has Jacques pulled out and saves his life with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation . The following night, Matilda digs up Nicholas' body and reads the word "Anazapta" on his back. Brother Wilfred, who arrived with other monks after the priest's death, told Matilda that one had to whisper "Anazapta" in the ear of a sick person so that he no longer felt any harm. Matilda learns from Brother Ignatius, who was once a goldsmith and made the amulet, that Thomas Bassett had commissioned it as a present for Joan. After Sir Walter caught Joan and Bassett red-handed and hung Bassett, he promised a shilling to every man who slept with his wife. Joan was then dragged into the woods and raped by countless men.
When the bishop arrives in the village, Matilda asks him to hold Holy Mass to calm the villagers upset by the deaths. In return, she shows herself ready to be sexually available to him afterwards, if there were ways to open a chastity belt without a key. Randall tries to kill Jacques on behalf of the bishop, but sees the cross on Jacques' chest and changes his mind. It turns out that Randall had hidden Joan for nine months until Jacques was born. When Sir Walter found out, he had Randall's nose cut off as a punishment. During mass, Randall Matilda warns that all those involved will die who will take the bread dipped in wine from the hand of the bishop - Jacques, who is uttering imploring words again in his chamber, wants desecration and death in this way avenge his mother. Matilda hurries out of mess, see Jacques and tells him that she knows who he is. Jacques begins to kiss her and Matilda lets him open her chastity belt with a knife. While they are lovingly sleeping together, Sir Walter arrives in town. He had escaped and now finds the villagers and the bishop dead in the streets. Like Joan once before, he catches Matilda red-handed with Jacques. This follows Sir Walter into the courtyard, where he shows him the scar on his chest. Sir Walter personally killed the branded baby and wants to know who Jacques really is. When he chokes Jacques, Matilda stabs her husband with a knife. Jacques then leaves the place. When he arrives in another, a woman calls him "William" - his face is now that of another man.
background
The film was shot in the Welsh counties of Brecknockshire , Powys and Monmouthshire , where the manor houses Tretower Court , Powis Castle and Caldicot Castle were used as locations.
The film was first shown to the public in February 2002 at the American Film Market. In Germany it was shown for the first time on July 26th, 2002 at the Fantasy Filmfest in Munich . In 2005 it was released on DVD.
Reviews
The lexicon of international film describes the film as "[f] insteres historical adventure based on common models and myths". Miles Fielder of Empire described it as a “dark and dirty medieval thriller” that came across as “like a mixture of The Name of the Rose and The Return of Martin Guerre ”. The presentation is “absolutely fascinating”, but the “confused story” takes forever “before it reaches the unconvincing end”. According to TimeOut London, it is difficult to say "what the makers of this low-budget British film were thinking with all the looting, pustules and Lena Headey in a chastity belt". The "revenge drama bursting with mud" does not seem like an exploitation film , but is "by far not complex enough to pass as something else".
Web links
- Anazapta - The Black Death in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Anazapta - The Black Death. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ “This grim and grimy Medieval murder mystery comes on like a cross between The Name Of The Rose and The Return Of Martin Guerre […]. It's an intriguing enough set-up but […] Anazapta is a muddled affair that takes forever to reach its wholly underwhelming conclusion. " Miles Fielder: Anazapta on empireonline.com
- ↑ “It's hard to fathom just what the makers of this low budget British film were thinking, since - for all its pillage, pustules and Lena Headey in a chastity belt - this mud-splattered revenge drama […] doesn't deliver as an exploitation movie, and is now here near sophisticated enough to pass as anything else. " See Anazapta on timeout.com