Akelarre

Coven Of Sisters: Set in the Basque country in 1609, very much in the mould of Witchfinder General but far darker. A Witchfinder along with his scribe, interrogator (torturer) and platoon of soldiers is progressing along the coast, seeking out Witches and Heretics. So far they have burned seventy seven women at the stake along with three Parish Priests who were found wanting. The Witchfinder Rostegul (Alex Brendermuhl) wants to observe an actual black Sabbath, in the next village six teenage girls are arrested, having been denounced as Witches, he wants to force them to reveal their Demonic secrets. but of course they have none. The brightest among them, Ana (Amala Aberasturi) tries to trick the Inquisitor, pretending to chant the Black Mass when is she in fact singing Basque folk songs, the other girls join in. Their intent is to delay their executions until the men of the village return from sea who will then fight off the Witchfinder's men. There are disturbing scenes of torture but more is implied than actually shown. The real horror is psychological as the girls as the girls are thrown into a dark cell, not knowing what they are accused of. Rostegul twists their words to imply guilt, even what they haven't said is used to incriminate them. But Anna along with some older women use the Inquisitor's fanaticism against him, keeping his interest and postponing her fate as Scheherazade did. A savage film which you'll remember and mull over longer after the end credits have rolled. Directed by Pablo Aguero, Screenplay by Pablo Aguero and Katell Guillou. On Netflix. 8/10.

It's a film that hurts the soul, for we are sure it was even worse than the film, the reality, I stopped a few times, by the feeling of discomfort and discomfort caused by some scenes, the poetic and hopeful ending... The film troops inquisitors, and we see blind and disoriented faith, when even the youngest priest and friend of the girls, who finally see them as witches... And They flew...

We are taken to 17th (not 16th) century Spain, where the Inquisition is trying to find evidence of witchcraft among the peasantry. A group of young girl/women are found and accused. Imprisoned and tortured they concoct a bizarre mess of a story about what the witches sabbath is about.

It seems that by confusing the clergy and their soldiers by ridiculous rituals they try over-power them and escape.

Some have complained that "Why don't they try to argue their case?" Simply because it would be completely pointless - the whole inquisition wasn't about finding the truth, but to alleviate fears attributed to external forces (like witches). There was only one outcome of "trial" for those accused - death. Which is evident by one methods used - tow the accused to sea. If she floated she was a witch, guilty and should be killed, if she sank and drowned she was innocent.

The film depicts the atmosphere of these "trials" in a believable manner, and the misfortunes the unlucky women faced. Well worth a watch - don't expect anything in the way of horror movie, it is not.

Abstract

Akelarre (Coven) -recent winner of five Goya awards- constitutes a powerful and lucid chronicle of the macho and misogynistic religious fanaticism of the Spanish Catholic Inquisition, of how it "adapted" reality to its prejudices, and does not hesitate to stage its comic stupidity at times , imposing an unexpected twist on the story and projecting all these towards the political present in an eloquent way but never underlined thanks to its realistic register and with a great staging.

Review

At the beginning of the 17th century, a group of inquisitors led by the investigating judge Rostegui (Alex Brendemühl, Dr. Mengele de Wakolda) and his Counselor (Daniel Fanego) arrived at a fishing village in the Basque Country (just one stopover in their disastrous journey ) and arrests and tortures a group of young adolescents accusing them of witchcraft, in a typical case of the investigation processes carried out by the Spanish Inquisition.

The approach that the Argentine director (and co-writer) Pablo Agüero makes of this historical event is very rich, with its multiple dimensions projected onto the present.

In the first place, the inquisitive duo, which combines the religious fanaticism of the investigating judge with the skeptical bureaucratic coldness of the counselor. The way in which Rostegui interprets and "adapted" reality to his prejudices in the interrogations, the ridiculous syllogisms of the dialectic in which both are sometimes trapped, have a powerful and current political resonance. And his timely quotes from the mystical poetry of Santa Teresa de Ávila are an eloquent reminder of the undeniable sexual charge that underlies.

The group of adolescents, accused of participating in a Sabbath (that one) -that is, a black mass to worship Lucifer- for the simple fact of dancing in the forest, is described and acts with an adequate anachronistic register or if you want timeless.

The girls, led by Ana (notably Amalia Aberasturi), somehow little contaminated by the dominant macho and misogynistic culture, display a totally rational spontaneity and put it into play to face the judgment of the inquisitors, imposing at a certain moment a turn to the gloomy of the story by exposing and taking advantage of the comic stupidity of all fanaticism.

The harsh scenes of captivity, interrogations and torture are absolutely current and at the same time, in a round trip, they impose the stamp of "medieval" on all the authoritarianism, fundamentalism and political abuse that followed later.

The period reconstruction and staging, with strong pictorial chiaroscuro that refer to Goya are very successful, as well as the music and songs that the prisoners sing at times are overwhelming. Special mention for the use of the off-field, which particularly in a scene, constitutes a great decision.

I'm glad to read all negative reviews are from shallow moviegoers who are looking for magic tricks. This is a masterpiece in all aspects. Haunting, interesting, historical, deep, disturbing, sexy. Genius! Good plot, good acting, good music, good timing and pace... Very serious filmmaking.