The Witch (2015 film)
5/10
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A family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.
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A devoted period and subject matter piece, which I have to respect. Nice acting and cinematic technique, and out-of-the-ordinary presentation and story.
I liked the presentation of authentic belief system as character and setting. The director adopted dialogue directly from written documents of the period. However, generally speaking, people don't speak the way they write, nor they way the give legal testimony -- and unlikely the way they talk and act in private with their family. And so the characters and dialogue are often stiff. I think not only more stiff than artistically required, even stiffer than in authenticity.
I didn't find the film enjoyable. It took me as rather bleak from beginning to end without any saving counter-point. It wasn't suspenseful, but rather mildly curious and mysterious. I found the ending climax also bleak, subdued and ambiguous.