The Devils (1971)

-

Director: Ken Russell

Writers: Ken Russell, based on the play by John Whiting and the novel by Aldous Huxley

Stars: Oliver Reed, Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Logue, Graham Armitage, Dudley Sutton, Max Adrian, Gemma Jones



Writer/director Ken Russell develops a scathing indictment of power, institutions, hypocrisy, and repressed sexuality from a historical case of supposed demonic possession. 



A sexually repressed nun (Vanessa Redgrave) claims she has been bewitched by a popular and independent priest (Oliver Reed) who has been placed in charge of the town of Loudon.

 


Cardinal Richelieu (Christopher Logue), who has been influencing King Louis XIII (Graham Armitage) to tighten his control of French cities, seizes on the situation as a pretext to put the priest on trial and sentence him to death.

 


This film is as relevant as it ever was, and, sadly, relevant it will probably always be.

 


When government is at its most immoral, it often aligns itself with religion in order to co-opt the moral authority of the church, and religious institutions all too often cooperate in order to gain greater access to power.

 


Together, they oppress convenient targets to deflect attention from their own corruption.

 


But this is no pedantic screed; it is a beautifully designed and photographed film of startling power. 



Widely panned, censored, and banned at the time of its release, it has found an appreciative audience in recent years.



















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lust, Caution (2007)

-
Image
Director: Ang Lee Writers: James Schamus, Hui-Ling Wang, based on a story by Eileen Chang Stars: Tang Wei, Tony Leung, Joan Chen, Leehom Wang, Chung-Hua Tou, Zhi-Ying Zhu, Ying-Hsuan Kao, Lawrence Ko, Johnson Yuen, Lar Lok Chin A young woman living in China during the Japanese occupation (Tang Wei)  becomes entangled with a collaborator (Tony Leung), whom she has been assigned to seduce and set up for execution.  The assignment eventually becomes the context for her entire life, until her very sense of self is wrapped up in layers of deceit and betrayal.  Ang Lee's masterful film introduces us to our characters when they are young college students swept up in idealistic fervor and then rejoins them years later when they are older and wearier, fighting the same battle more out of necessity than idealism.   This is a long film because Lee takes his time fleshing out these characters, but it is time well spent.  I was thoroughly engrossed and shattered by the film's harrowing conc
Read more

The Thing (1982)

-
Image
Director: John Carpenter Writers: Bill Lancaster, based on "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr. Stars:  Kurt Russell,  A. Wilford Brimley, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur The crew of an Antarctic research station (Kurt Russell,  A. Wilford Brimley, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat, Joel Polis, and Thomas G. Waites) finds itself in conflict with an alien life form that can change its shape in this classic horror film that was considered both an artistic and commercial failure at its time of release.   Once the creature’s abilities are understood, we are treated to an object lesson (more relevant now than ever) in the destructive effect of division and mistrust on efforts to deal with an existential threat.  This is John Carpenter’s best film.   In addition to building a tremendous atmosphere with a wonderful sense of setting, the constricted
Read more

The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu (AKA The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu) (Fu Manchu #1) (1913)

-
Image
by Sax Rohmer Dr. Fu Manchu, the prototypical supervillain of the  Yellow Peril, arrives in Britain to advance his nefarious purposes, which aren’t entirely clear at this point but seem to involve kidnapping a number of scientific specialists for transport to China.   He is presented as a new breed of reformer who wishes to crush the West and remake China into a world power.   Fortunately for Merry Olde England, Nayland Smith, an officer of the Crown with the authority to command the cooperation of any government official, and his sidekick Dr. Watson…I mean Petrie…are on hand to oppose him.  Anyone who enjoys old pulp adventures has already made peace with the backward racial attitudes of the time when they were written so it generally doesn’t bear mentioning.   Sometimes, however, these offenses are so glaring that they become particularly intrusive.  The entire premise of this series is the notion that a superior white race must guard against the crafty machinations of morally inferi
Read more