Witches (1922)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Witches |
| Original title | Häxan |
| Country of production | Sweden |
| original language | Swedish |
| Publishing year | 1922 |
| length | 107 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Benjamin Christensen |
| script | Benjamin Christensen |
| music | Launy Grøndahl |
| camera | Johan Ankerstjerne |
| cut | Edla Hansen |
| occupation | |
| |
Witches (alternatively: The Witch ) is a film produced in Sweden by the Danish director Benjamin Christensen from 1922. It contains elements from both the feature film and the documentary . Witches should be the first film in a trilogy. While witches are about witch hunts, the other films should cover the themes of visions of saints and evocations . Of the three planned films, however, only Witches was implemented.
action
The film is divided into seven sections that deal with the themes of witchcraft and the inquisition .
The first section provides a documentary overview of mysticism. It is about earlier cultures that saw evil forces as the cause of inexplicable phenomena and developed various worldviews as models before they knew the spherical shape of the earth. The section also shows the activities of a witch, such as milking axes or bewitching pets.
In contrast to the first section, the film changes to the feature film type in the second section . Here the events in a witch's kitchen are described. While a witch is brewing her concoctions, a customer requests a love potion to win over a cleric. Furthermore, two masked men dissect a corpse, a drunk is bewitched, a young woman is seduced by the devil in her sleep.
The third section of the film deals with witch trials. The methods described in the “ Hexenhammer ” (a work on witches written by the Dominican Heinrich Kramer ) to prove that a suspect was a witch, such as the water or lead sample, are described here. In the latter case, a pan with hot lead is swiveled over a sick person and the lead is poured into cold water - the shape of the cooled lead is supposed to indicate whether it is a case of hexing. When a young girl tries to denounce an old weaver as a witch to a monk and arouses the monk's desire, she is mistaken for a witch herself.
The fourth section of the film describes a witch trial using the example of Maria, the old weaver from the previous section. The methods of forcing a confession ranged from pillory and cross-examination to torture, which ultimately has an effect. As part of Mary's confession, the film contains a detailed description of the Witches' Sabbath .
The fifth section shows how the accused were dealt with after a confession. So the sick man's wife and maid are taken away. A monk involved in the action, in whom the patient's daughter has aroused cravings, has himself whipped to save his soul. The sick daughter is threatened with the stake after a forced confession .
In the sixth section of the film, the tools of torture that were common at the time are demonstrated, such as thumb screws , stretchers and belts with spikes on the inside.
The seventh section connects to 20th century science and explains religious fanaticism with hysteria.
background
Christensen shot witches from 1919 to 1922. After its premiere on September 18, 1922, the film sparked indignation in Denmark because of the violence it contained; in France the Church protested against the film; in Germany it was banned after its premiere there in February 1924. This led to cuts and censorship of the film material abroad; only in Denmark was Häxan shown in its original version. Only when the film was released again by its director in 1941 was the original version shown abroad.
In 1968 the film came out in a revised version as Witchcraft Through The Ages , which, among other things, played at the wrong speed (with the now usual 24 frames per second instead of the 20 in which the film was actually shot) and accompanied by jazz music has been.
Reviews
"Conceived as an educational film, the expressionist staging is now less captivating because of its information content and more because of the formal skill in coloring dark, burlesque horror visions"
“For today's viewer [note: 1969!] This is no longer an educational film, but rather a fun and somewhat creepy entertainment through more burlesque than aggressive horror. Easily digestible from 16 years on. "
Web links
- Witches in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- - A detailed chapter about the film and its director in the "Document of Horror", from page 177
Individual evidence
- ↑ Witches. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Evangelical Press Association Munich, Review No. 503/1969