Black Death
Guilt, persecution and religious fanaticism lies at the heart of the surprisingly good Black Death. Directed by Christopher Smith, this British film is part horror and part historical drama. Its discussion of God and pagan beliefs in medieval times is handled in the context of the titular pandemic. The Black Plague, now believed to be an outbreak of bacterium, was believed to be punishment from God above.
Smith’s movie is dark, bleak and gritty. He shoots with care and realism, resisting the broad scope approach that so many historical films take. His vision of 1348 England is not a charming one. There is no whimsy and no glorious castles here. There are only shadowy passages, desperately faithful men, remote villages, and ever-present terror.
Osmund (Eddie Redmayne) is a young monk. He has fallen in love with a girl, Averill (Kimberley Nixon), who has taken refuge in the church. When the plague arrives, Osmund gets Averill to flee to safety. She will wait in the forest by a particular mark for one week. Osmund prays to God for permission to join her and asks for a sign. When Ulric (Sean Bean) arrives, he believes his prayers have been answered.
Ulric is on a mission to check out a village that hasn’t been touched by the plague. He believes that there is some kind of witchcraft afoot and wants to find a necromancer. Ulric is doing God’s work, he thinks, and plans to destroy any kind of witchcraft or demon worship he finds. Ulric, together with his company and Osmund, discovers that the village is a strange utopia of pagan beliefs and stunning violence.
Everything about Black Death is grim. Smith is adept at conveying the greyness of the time. He offers no visual solace, providing a grainy and chilling look at England. The work of cinematographer Sebastian Edschmid is laudable too, keeping things close to the ground. There is little glamour to the violence and the action sequences avoid the swashbuckling pratfalls of so many genre pictures.
In this hopeless environment, it’s not surprising that faith provides no refuge. Every individual struggles with belief, even those who uphold it to the death. The pagans are no better, also retreating to violence and death in order to protect their circle of belief. Whether one is advocating for God or for no God, there is nothing to cling to in Black Death beyond the physical – and even that is fleeting.
Smith’s picture is a lean one. It is not demanding and it is no epic. The performances are solidly grim, with Redmayne going through a slow and subtle transformation that really doesn’t reach its peak until the picture’s shocking climax. How he defends his beliefs and goes about taking care of “evil” is something that stuns to the core, especially when we consider how quickly and easily faith can be abused by strong personalities.
Black Death is a dark and disturbing motion picture. It is not particularly gory or bloody, but there are some moments of stunning violence that have visceral effects. Smith smartly keeps things simple, though, and that works in the movie’s favour because it narrows the lens to the human level. It’s not about the plague; it’s about humanity and how we, when consumed by fervour and zealotry, can condemn ourselves to fates worth than death.
Trailer:
