Review of Black Death (2010) by Will J — 06 Jul 2011

Possible spoilers.

A dark and very realistic, though very violent, look at medieval times during the Black Plague - or as the film is titled: the Black Death. One of the film's major themes is religion and whether or not it should be followed - even the film's villain is a prophet of sorts who denounces God, but later is revealed to be false herself.

The film begins with a young monk named Osmund (Eddie Redmayne) telling his forbidden lover to run away. She tells him she'll wait for him at a certain place, but he isn't able to leave his village due to his vows to the church. So, he prays, and some knights - or God's warriors sent by a bishop - come riding in and need a holy man to accompany them to a small village where the residents sacrifice people and supposedly eat other people all in order to keep the plague away. Oh, and the leader is a necromancer - one of the most blasphemous occupations in all the medieval world. They are required to bring the necromancer back alive and make him confess for his crimes and then have him burned at the stake.

So, Osmund heads out with the knights, who is lead by Ulric (Sean Penn) - a real God fearing, fierce man. The first half or so of the film is them journeying to the village of blasphemy and we get to know the knights a bit, and along the way a few obstacles are present, like disease and bandits. It's a really sort of slow beginning, but it doesn't feel slow, it feels dark and eerie to the point of catching my interest successfully. I was immersed in the film nearly entirely.

Once they actually reach the village in the second half there was some definite greatness in this film, but the climax was a bit disappointing, but everything else - including the resolution after the climax - is pretty great.

Visually this film is about perfect with the style that it tries to convey, and though the style isn't for everyone, it was definitely enjoyable in a dark depressing way. This film is absolutely brutal and intense and, again, depressing. There seems to be no hope at all, and that's the point. In the 1300s everyone was fearful of dying and going to hell and/or being bewitched - and with the plague coming along killing people as if God was pissed off at them certainly didn't make things better. Even the questioning of their Christianity by the villain - the supposed Necromancer - is bleak as hell, making God-fearing Christians, whose entire life is centered around worshipping a deity denounce their faith is frightening for an atheist like myself to watch.

The film has many flaws, but for the budget it was made with, which is considerably low for the realistic quality of it, it is a very impressive work of historic horror. It's worth seeing if your a horror fan or even a fan of historic fiction. If you don't like being depressed or scared or forced to question your faith, don't see this bleak film.