Myrkrahöfðinginn

Saw this movie on a snowy night in Reykjavik, in the Icelandic language, with no English subtitles. Didn't need them to get the gist: Even in as God-forsaken an outpost as 17th century Iceland must have been, God was still a great excuse to make human misery even more so.

A fascinating historical tale of life - and death, lots of it - on the fringes of pagan Europe. Man, what a horrible portrait this movie paints. This is Western Civilization at its lowest ebb, with barely literate cavemen scratching out a miserable existence from the rock and ice and entrails of flea-infested dogs and sheep. And those were the lucky ones! For the unlucky, the arrival of The Church (in the form of the Inquisition) means that it really can always get worse.

And a damning statement on Christianity it is. Religion here is the monster created in the brains of these pathetic troglodytes to punish mankind for daring to be human, for daring to think at all. For those of you who enjoy romantic fantasies of life in the middle ages, this film is a powerful reality check.

For those of you thinking about visiting Iceland, see this movie first, then go there, by all means, in the winter. A stark contrast, indeed-the Iceland of today is Xanadu, a spectacular success, a miracle to have survived this nightmarish beginning. Oh, yeah - the director made sure to throw in a bit of lurid sex and unexpected dark humor to keep your attention.

I give it 8.5 stars.

A very well produced movie about a mad priest on Iceland during the 17th century. The priest in the village starts to see witches everywhere and nobody is safe from being put into the flames....I think this picture shows pretty well how life could be on Iceland for ordinary people. It really shows how hard life could be.

A young priest is sent to a tiny village in Iceland in the 1700s and starts a witch-hunt. The scenery is stark and beautiful - giving the film a truly isolated and alien feel. All the performances are great - but the B-plot line of the priest as an old man remembering his youth seems out of place and serves to confuse the ending and slow proceedings.