Director Eggers won the 2015 Best Director at the Sundance Film Festival for this phenomenal feature. Set in 1630 New England, we follow a family who leave their colony under threat of banishment by the church, which is ironic considering that the original pilgrims did NOT come to what was to be the United States for their "religious freedom," NOT because they were being "persecuted" in England (they first went to Holland before trying it in The New World), but because they wanted to persecute those who did not agree with their own religious beliefs and live by their religious rules. They complained that the Church of England did not go far enough, and they left Holland because they felt there were no morals and the youth were "licentious." This is the same song that the Evangelicals bleat today--they confuse their "religious freedom" with imposing their religious views on others and forcing other people to live by Evangelical rules.
So our family set out on their own, find a patch of land outside a forest, build a house, plant a small crop of corn, and raise goats and chickens. But a series of odd circumstances, then misfortunes, then outright calamities befall the family, and they suspect the source of their disasters is a witch in the woods.
"The VVitch" (styled with double V's because Eggers saw it spelled that way in an authentic Jacobean pamphlet on witchcraft as well as other source material from that time period) is billed as a supernatural horror film which I found to be only partly true. There is clearly a supernatural element to the film but the poster and film titles mention folk tales. In fact, the film's official subtitle is "A New England Folk Tale." Eggers said that when he was writing the film, he wanted to show that for the people of this period, folk tales and mythology were as real as the tangible world in front of them, and that for them, the two realms were the same. To show that perspective, he had to include the reality of witches. That is something that was not in the fore of my mind--I simply accepted this reality within the story of the film. But what I did sense, beyond just a "horror" film, was that this is a slow-burning, claustrophobic psychological portrait of madness as we witness the literal disintegration of this family. It is almost more harrowing to watch for that reason than for the presence of any kind of supernatural being.
I've read other analyses of the film and a few sources have mentioned that the film is also anti-religious, and in a way, perhaps even an indictment against religion. I had to mull that one over before I came to the conclusion that was not the intent of Eggers, and it is not how it came across to me personally. While it is true that these people feel they are in their god's hands--they pray and speak of the Gospels often--the film lets their religious belief in something intangible and invisible, and indeed impotent to help them, coexist with the supernatural. So in a way, their religious leanings end up feeling like belief in folk tales and mythology as well. I think that is a by-product and not an intentional denigration of their religion. If anything, the presence of a supernatural being reinforces and supports the extreme religious perspective of the family. To believe one fairy tale, you have to believe them all. And the primary fairy tale they believe in features a god who is cruel, punishing, and whose threats of hell and damnation are something to be feared. It's just a stone's throw to an evil witch in the woods.
Anya Taylor-Joy is the oldest daughter Thomasin, and Ralph Ineson and Kate Dickie play her parents William and Katherine. Taylor-Joy is a revelation in her first film role which is hard to imagine as she exhibits such mastery. Ineson and Dickie are fabulous as well, ratcheting up the anxiety and the tension by being the adults--the ones the children and we the audience depend on for guidance and structure--who are losing all emotional control. The children who play Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw), and the twins Mercy (Ellie Grainger) and Jonas (Lucas Dawson) are quite special as well. Particular kudos go to young Harvey Scrimshaw who performs a scene for this film that is well beyond his years and beyond the talent level of a child of his experience. Truly outstanding.
It's a beautifully photographed film as well. Eggers made a point of using only available natural light for outdoor shots, and only candlelight and firelight for indoor, evening shots. Extreme attention to period sets and costumes pays off as well: the production team worked extensively with British and American museums, as well as consulting experts on 17th-century British agriculture; costumes were authentically hand made using only wool, linen, and hemp; and the production even went so far as to bring in someone who knew how to hand work, in the method of the time, the wood siding used on the family cabin.
Recommend? Yes. It's a fascinating psychological study, as well as a tense and suspenseful tale, and finally a sly "horror" film as the horror is served on the side.
http://thewitch-movie.com/
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