The Pilgrim of Hate

I found this movie fascinating. It took me into strange world where Christianity imbued every aspect of life. It could almost be viewed as a sci-fi future dystopia, though takes place in the middle ages.

Benedictine monk Cadfael is a relatively modern man stuck in time in a horribly superstitious age. He is the voice of kindness, reason and moderation. I felt myself clinging to him as a father figure. He is presented with a suspicious death, and he uses the science of his age and common sense to gradually unravel the mystery.

On the way, we see a teenage monk who feels compelled to confess every sexual thought, and accept the punishment of lashings till unconsciousness.

We see a dealer in phony saint relics. We see a man who manipulates the belief in saints and relics to bilk the gullible. We see incredible cruelty and self delusion in the name of god. We see Benedictine monks extolling selfishness, like modern day Republicans. The notion of penance drives people to masochistic madness. The film does not touch on witchcraft or torture. We see how Christianity poisons the lives of almost everyone but Cadfael.

The special effects of bleeding and festered wounds are more than convincing. They make you wince.

The characters are so grimy, ratty and diseased. The villains are so oily, strange and creepy -- not your garden variety weirdos. The crimes are quite different than you will have encountered before in other films. Griminess is the norm. It made me very happy I can leave the TV and have a long hot soak in the tub, and put on freshly laundered, crisp clothes.

There are another 12 episodes in the series, I eagerly look forward to viewing them.

I loved the book but couldn't stand the movie because it departed so far from the book as to be totally unrecognizable. Had the plot of the book been flawed or impossible to adapt to film, I could have forgiven the butchering it was subjected to. But the plot of the book was compelling and should have been fairly straightforward to adapt, though certain subplots might have had to have been jettisoned. My mother, who had not read the book and was not prejudiced as I was, found it confusing and hard to follow. Bottom line: if you enjoyed the book and are expecting a faithful adaptation into film you will be very, very, very disappointed. I truly believe that I wouldn't have enjoyed it even had I not read the book, even though the acting and cinematography were excellent.

According to IMDb and some of the other reviewers, this episode of "Cadfael" is not really based on Edith Pargeter's novel of the same name. Unlike her other stories in the series, the BBC did NOT try to stick close to the original source material but kept just the name of her story.

The episode begins with a bunch of pilgrims descending on the abbey--seeking relief from their various leg ailments. However, a weird thing occurs--the monks discover a dead guy in a sack among the pilgrims' belongings! Cadfael carries out a bizarre sort of autopsy by boiling away the bones from the corpse and sees that the man appears to have died from a blow to the head--and it's assumed it is murder. Who was the dead man? Why was he brought along on the pilgrimage? And, most importantly, if there was a murder, who did it? It's all up to Cadfael to figure it out--but there aren't a lot of clues, though the film seems to indicate that some brothers might have something to do with this.

The solution to all this, though interesting, is VERY familiar to mystery films. The guy who THINKS that he murdered the man didn't actually do it--and another used this as a chance to kill the victim and blame it on the first guy. Very familiar...too familiar. A weak final episode, I assume just filming the book as it was written would have been better.

It is Cripples Day at Shrewsbury, and this brings a mass of disabled pilgrims to the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in the hopes that St. Winifred can cure them. We learn about St. Winifred's presents in "A Morbid Taste for Bones." Cadfael welcomes them while some of the other Brothers find it a nuisance.

Within a short while, a body is found in a leather sack amongst the visitors. Nobody is to leave. In an attempt to discover the culprit Cadfael boils down the man's body to inspect the bones and uncovers two possible explanations for his death. And yes, they did leave.

Once again, many things are not what they seem, and it is up to Brother Cadfael to bring them to light. There are also parallel stories that may or may not have a bearing on the murder. One is of a seller of bogus relics. The other two brothers are on a pilgrimage.

If you do not compare it to the book, it is a good film and well balanced. The movie has to tighten the story so some good guys in the book may have to go bad. (Do not forget that the first two chapters of the book are revealed in detail in "A Morbid Taste for Bones" and "One Corpse Too Many") This story takes place years later.