The Devil (1972)
4/10
A Messy, Pointless and Violent Journey to Insanity
15 November 2010
In Poland, a mysterious man comes to a chaotic convent to bring to Warsaw the nobleman political prisoner Jakub (Leszek Teleszynski) that imprisoned in the dungeons. The stranger requests the list of fellow conspirators to Jakub and abducts a nun to travel with Jakub in his journey back home. When he arrives in his destroyed house, he sees his father dead; his sister abused and insane; his mother in a brothel; and his girlfriend pregnant and living with his former best friend. Jakub becomes deranged and using a razor delivered by the stranger, he kills each sinner, in an irrational period of chaos and moral degradation.

"Diabel" is a messy, pointless and violent journey to insanity. The writer and director Andrzej Zulawski makes a dreadful film, with a screenplay that does not tell the milestone when the story takes place. In accordance with the DVD cover, the period is 1793, during the invasion of Poland by the Prussian army. The performances are histrionic and theatrical, and the violence is stupid with the only intention of shocking the audience. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Diabel"
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