“The Witch”

Thank you to commenters who recommended “The Witch” to me. I watched it and it was excellent. It’s a film about a Puritan family who is banished from their village for the nebulous “sin of pride.” They move to a new location, roughly a day’s ride away, and try to begin a new life. It does not go well. ***MAJOR SPOILERS***  (The corn is bad and straightaway the family’s baby is stolen, perhaps by a witch. One by one, the children are taken from their parents, strange events foment suspicion, and family members begin to turn against each other.)

The film is spare and elegant and completely engrossing. The sets, costumes and acting are superb. You are in that Puritan frontier world. And, boy is it dark and depressing.

I think that–like “It Follows”–“The Witch” gives the audience some wiggle room to figure out what message to take from it.  Is the film about the corrupting power of religious fervor? It absolutely could be. I also think it could ultimately about the place of women in Puritan society. *** MAJOR SPOILERS*** (When the mother so readily turns against her daughter, at one point referring to her as a “proud slut,” it made me wonder if witch-hood was perhaps the only viable option for young women of the time. It made me wonder if actually being a witch was simply preferable to being suspected of being one.)

Whatever you take from the film, it is a fine, fine offering. See it immediately. (And, also, might wanna watch with CC on, because it’s the easiest way to get a good grasp on the thick accents and ye olde fashionedy language.)