If you have seen any Polish, Czecholovakian, Hungarian film from the fifties to the early nineties, you'll probably have notice that all those films are rather austere, gloomy, dark, rough; at least not made for the bulk of western audiences. This one belongs to that kind. It looks as a mix u between Ken Russel's THE DEVILS, or WITCHFINDER GENERAL or MARK OF THE DEVIL, but in a bit more talkative, intellectual way. The good thing about this topic, is that's a sort of critism of the Communist, oppressor regime. So, no propaganda message here. Not for the squeamish at least.

This is a recreation of a series of witch trials that occurred around 1600. Since it's a Czechoslovakian film, I assume it is set somewhere around there. The film begins with an odd occurrence--an old lady pretends to eat a communion wafer at church but instead shoves it into a handkerchief. When confronted about this weird behavior, folks immediately assume it's because she's involved with witches and that these devil worshipers plan on using the host for some unholy ceremony. THe woman really is just very superstitious and she's really taking the wafer to trade someone--as they want to use the wafer to supposedly cure a sick animal. This is goofy--but the priest certainly does not think it constitutes witchcraft and admonishes everyone to forget about it. However, the elders insist on bringing in a witch-finder and determining if it's all part of a demonic ceremony. From there, everything gets way out of hand and they start burning practically anyone--all due to an overzealous and evil man bent on abusing the gullibility of others.

The film gets very high marks for realism. The torture and subsequent confessions seem very well done--though are a bit difficult to watch. And, the entire abuse of the silly system and complicity of the Church is quite interesting--as well as the lone priest who fights this evil tribunal. My only complaint is the opening scene. It's jam-packed full of very gratuitous nudity. Later, there is some explicit nudity but it is necessary for the film and should have been used (such as when they stripped the lady to look for 'the Devil's mark' on her as well as to humiliate her). So, the violence and nudity make it a film I would NOT recommend to your kids or mother-in-law! Otherwise, extremely well done but possibly not the sort of thing you'd want to watch (it can be a bit hard to take).

Inquisition film, from Czechoslovakia. You know the drill. Innocent women are unjustly accused of witchcraft and tortured by sadistic inquisitioners into admitting they committed acts at the command of Satan. Religious persecution and sadism towards imprisoned women, particularly those that won't cooperate. Boblig, the inquisitioner, is an obvious fraud who was "retired" and since granted power by Her Grace to "rid her castle of the Devil", he more than happily inhabits his former role, not in any hurry to return to a life as a poor innkeeper. When you have the finest clothes, sleeping quarters, and food, provided courtesy of Her Majesty, one can see why a cruel fiend(and his clerk) might not wish to scurry home to an insignificant existence.

Before you know it, all the village women are fair game, with the men worrying that their beloved girls will be next on his checklist. When he's not fattening himself with beef or drinking himself into a near stooper, Boblig is having women round up for trials, his clerk always scribbling edicts of his choosing("Put that down in the protocol"). Deacon Lautner, the only crusader for the people that seems to have any courage, appeals to the "His Emminence" for support, but Boblig, for whatever reason, had curried favor with Her Majesty(and, in particular, "the Church") and there's no going back. Boblig becomes tyrannical and unstoppable, a pathetic waste of a human being who used some sort of reputation from his past to supplement his future, to torture and terrorize with Her Majesty's blessing(we see that she's easily manipulated and ignorant, fodder for Boblig to use at his advantage).

When Lautner is accused of sorcery(clearly as a means to remove an obstacle which stands in his way for ultimate power),Boblig will have free reign to do as he so wishes without resistance, succeeding in having his rival imprisoned for his advocacy of "heretics" and housing a young woman(a cook who was given a his mother).

This movie is grim and bleak in the tradition of other Inquisition movies such as WITCHFINDER GENERAL & MARK OF THE DEVIL. There are narrative interludes by some woman-hating religiously fanatical monk with rotting teeth, going on and on about how the female sex is the root of all evil, worthy of extermination..he's pretty foul and as obnoxious(purposely so, of course)as these loons typically are. These are the kind that need to get laid and snap out of their insane fervor.

Like many of these movies, we see things spiral out of control as one man gains a position to inflict harm on others, while enjoying the luxuries and benefits that come with it. "I'm not a theologist. I'm a jurist," that's Boblig's flimsy excuse for sending innocent women to the stake to burn by fire.

Thumb-screws. Leg vices. Bodies stretched by a machine(called "the rack") that pulls on the body, rope for extra pain. Lautner's cook, Susan, tortured, stripped naked, and forced to confess against the man she loves. This film can be unpleasant.

As expected, these pious hypocrites with their fancy garments use God as a way to partake in their atrocious acts, when it's actually about securing property and wealth..Satan is the perfect tool in order to achieve this as Boblig goes from inquisitor to Bishop to Master, with fellow clergymen behind him also passing judgment. Deacon Lautner is a martyr who Boblig wishes to yield to acts of carnal lust in the name of Satan, for which he stands strong, with integrity, but how long can anyone last when put through the rigors of torture over a period of time?

Elo Romancik's face is angelic, appropriate since his Lautner is to be put on trial and falsely accused by Boblig for ridiculous crimes he didn't commit. Vladimir Smeral is well cast as the cold-hearted Boblig, and I imagine the closing information written on screen will be sure to infuriate many viewers who, I imagine, were hoping he'd have a more gruesome fate as those he sent to death(all thirty something of them, mostly women and their husbands who confessed after enormous torture).