Day Of Wrath (1943) :
Brief Review -
Yet another daring Danish film on Musty Traditions of Witchcraft but this time with biblical and logical explanation. I remember watching Danish Silent Film 'Haxan' / 'The Witch' (1922) by Benjamin Christensen and how i was blown away by the film. Here, Day Of Wrath is based on same intolerable traditions but instead of throwing negative impact, it gives mindful logical explanations by using Bible and Life Ethics. And believe it or not, every viewer can have a separate and totally different explaination of this story according to his/her own individual ethics. The young wife of an aging priest falls in love with his son amidst the horror of a merciless witch hunt in 17th century Denmark. All 3 main characters have sinned against God/Life/Love therefore all 3 gets punished in different ways but you have to understand how. Many viewers haven't found that subtle meaning for all 3 characters which i personally think wasn't too hard to get but like i said you have to find it according to your ethics. I am not gonna spoil anything by telling what i understood or what explaination I have because obviously your ethics and mine are different. I haven't seen any film using those unacceptable musty, mouldy thoughts from the history to show acceptable devotional ethics like 'If you sin, you will be punished because up there God is watching us'. Performances wise Robert Thorkild, Lisbeth Movin and Preben Lerdorff Rye all three are superb in their roles. Sigrid Neiiendam in mother's role is surprisingly overwhelming. Cinematography is great, dialogues are powerful, screenplay is little slow and direction of Carl Theodor Dreyer is good. Dreyer again creates that wonderful atmosphere all around like he did with Vampyr (1932) but this time his grip wasn't that tight. Thanks to the fantastic writing which gives it a solid and almost an unforgettable ending.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest
Yet another daring Danish film on Musty Traditions of Witchcraft but this time with biblical and logical explanation. I remember watching Danish Silent Film 'Haxan' / 'The Witch' (1922) by Benjamin Christensen and how i was blown away by the film. Here, Day Of Wrath is based on same intolerable traditions but instead of throwing negative impact, it gives mindful logical explanations by using Bible and Life Ethics. And believe it or not, every viewer can have a separate and totally different explaination of this story according to his/her own individual ethics. The young wife of an aging priest falls in love with his son amidst the horror of a merciless witch hunt in 17th century Denmark. All 3 main characters have sinned against God/Life/Love therefore all 3 gets punished in different ways but you have to understand how. Many viewers haven't found that subtle meaning for all 3 characters which i personally think wasn't too hard to get but like i said you have to find it according to your ethics. I am not gonna spoil anything by telling what i understood or what explaination I have because obviously your ethics and mine are different. I haven't seen any film using those unacceptable musty, mouldy thoughts from the history to show acceptable devotional ethics like 'If you sin, you will be punished because up there God is watching us'. Performances wise Robert Thorkild, Lisbeth Movin and Preben Lerdorff Rye all three are superb in their roles. Sigrid Neiiendam in mother's role is surprisingly overwhelming. Cinematography is great, dialogues are powerful, screenplay is little slow and direction of Carl Theodor Dreyer is good. Dreyer again creates that wonderful atmosphere all around like he did with Vampyr (1932) but this time his grip wasn't that tight. Thanks to the fantastic writing which gives it a solid and almost an unforgettable ending.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest