Le marteau des sorcières

In the Seventeenth Century, in Moravia, the altar boy report to the priest that an old beggar woman has hidden her host in a piece of cloth during the communion. The priest brings the woman to question why she did it, and she tells him that another woman has promised food to her since her cow is not producing milk and she wanted to give the host to the animal. The priest brings the case to the Powers that Be in the town and priest Krystof Lautner (Elo Romancik), who is an intellectual man, tells him that it is a superstition from ignorant people and to give a penance to her. However, the priest brings the unscrupulous witchfinder Boblig von Edelstadt (Vladimír Smeral) that comes with his associate to Moravia and using torture, sentences three women to be burnt alive at stake. Then, he targets to the wealthy men in Moravia to get their fortunes, and to Lautner, who is a threat to him.

Serious movies about the Inquisition in the Dark Ages are usually unpleasant and disturbing. "Kladivo na carodejnice" (1970), a.k.a. "Witchhammer" is no exception to this rule and shows the corruption produced by the absolute power. In the present days, we have dictatorships, fanatic regimes, McCarthyism and supreme courts with excessive power in certain countries to show that this dark side of the mankind still prevails. The torture associated to the absolute power like it was in the Seventeenth Century completes the idea why this period of history is called Dark Ages. The direction and performances in this film are awesome associated to the black-and-white cinematography that gives the sensation of a documentary. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Martelo das Bruxas" ("The Hammer of the Witches")

While the setting and the historical source of the movie is that of the late 17th century, don't be fooled, this is a movie about communism. More accurately, about the wretched logic the communist justice system has used to imprison and kill hundreds of people in the Czechoslovakian 50s. The forced confessions, self-accusal, torture and naming of innocent accomplices were all part of communist processes in which such as Milada Horáková perished.

There are plenty of analogies in the movie which I don't intend to spoil. The atmosphere is crafted masterfully, giving the film a bleak and dark look and amplifying the effects of its story. The performances are very good, however I don't know how well does the original czech translate into the subtitles. What keeps this from being a 10 out of 10 is the pacing. In a certain point of the movie, the end becomes obvious and the rest is just a hammer that drives the nail of absolute despair into your brain.

Whether we are talking about the real "witch trials" of the past, or alluding to more recent government (or other) uses of torture to advance or "prove" their causes, we quickly drift into very murky territory, IMHO. Even when used by a "good guy" such as Jack Bauer (in "24") to expedite things there's an inherent concern that, if people will say anything to escape the pain, then what's the point, and what is "proved"?

As this film well illustrates - whether it's about Communism or Witches - the wider issues of power, greed and societal control can provide ample cause for those willing to go down that path. Personally, I found it a tough (and somewhat depressing) watch, even though there is sparing use of graphic violence - but enough to get the point and add to the escalating mood of oppression.

Not for children, but otherwise recommended.

This is a recreation of a series of witch trials that occurred around 1600. Since it's a Czechoslovakian film, I assume it is set somewhere around there. The film begins with an odd occurrence--an old lady pretends to eat a communion wafer at church but instead shoves it into a handkerchief. When confronted about this weird behavior, folks immediately assume it's because she's involved with witches and that these devil worshipers plan on using the host for some unholy ceremony. THe woman really is just very superstitious and she's really taking the wafer to trade someone--as they want to use the wafer to supposedly cure a sick animal. This is goofy--but the priest certainly does not think it constitutes witchcraft and admonishes everyone to forget about it. However, the elders insist on bringing in a witch-finder and determining if it's all part of a demonic ceremony. From there, everything gets way out of hand and they start burning practically anyone--all due to an overzealous and evil man bent on abusing the gullibility of others.

The film gets very high marks for realism. The torture and subsequent confessions seem very well done--though are a bit difficult to watch. And, the entire abuse of the silly system and complicity of the Church is quite interesting--as well as the lone priest who fights this evil tribunal. My only complaint is the opening scene. It's jam-packed full of very gratuitous nudity. Later, there is some explicit nudity but it is necessary for the film and should have been used (such as when they stripped the lady to look for 'the Devil's mark' on her as well as to humiliate her). So, the violence and nudity make it a film I would NOT recommend to your kids or mother-in-law! Otherwise, extremely well done but possibly not the sort of thing you'd want to watch (it can be a bit hard to take).

This Czech take on witch trials is a really well-made drama, though it feels a bit older than it's 1969/70 date. While the topic is reasonably well trodden, even by this time, this version effectively highlights the perversions of the accusers, laying out clearly the financial and sexual motivations of them. Witch trials is a topic that is always a hard watch where, as a viewer, you can feel how trapped all parties seem to be, and the inevitability of an end. It doesn't feel like it's a clearly trying to build modern parallels as Arthur Miller's play, but not knowing a lot about Czech life at the time, it's possible I'm missing it.

There are generally good performances all round, although perhaps a couple of the women could been given a more time. I felt I got enough of Boblig and it would have been better to round a couple of the other characters. In the end, it is a relatively straight forward drama, the 'torture' scenes are pretty mild and the opening scenes with plenty of nudity do not reflect the rest of the film. In retrospect, they feel like a bit of an 'add-on'. Well worth a watch.