We have talked on the forum before about the portrayal of witches in the movie, I like the way that it shows the ill treatment and trickery of the church in a way, towards suspected women.. the video shows that well i think! and i like the ambiguity throughout the film towards 'the girl' and Behmen's protective quality toward her....but I still think the film lets itself off the hook about making an absolute statement on witches though, thereby cleverly avoiding controversy, by turning it into a demon possession story instead!
I totally agree with you, Lula. And, the sad thing about this story is, that the church really treated "suspected" women throughout the centuries like this and, maybe worse. But, what I love about SOTW is, that Behmen really doesn`t believe the others, and tries to see an innocent in that girl, he tries to protect.
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"When you think about magic, it is imagination plus willpower focused in such a way that you can create a conscious effect in the material world..."
exactly Lady Arwen! although, do you feel there is an ambiguity in that Behmen ony protects her on the condition that she is not a witch..that she will receive a 'fair trial', but if she is......? so the film colludes to a certain extent with the belief that all witches are bad / evil.
I find the scene where 'the girl' offers Behmen healing really intriguing....would love to know what everyone elses take on that scene is!
Maybe. At least, that was, what the church told him, to make him deliver the "witch" to the abbey. Maybe, he saw with his heart deeper in the "girl", and saw not the evil, but an innocent girl, that is beeing used by the "evil".
And, I think, the movie implies in some ways, that the church accused and killed all women in "God`s name", they couldn`t "control".
The question is, was it really the "girl" or the "demon" in the girl, that offered healing to Behmen? That would be really interesting, to know.
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"When you think about magic, it is imagination plus willpower focused in such a way that you can create a conscious effect in the material world..."
I agree with all you say here Lady Arwen, I felt that the message was pretty overt about the ill treatment by the church . They did escape the issue about whether a 'witch' can be good as opposed to evil though...as you say, is it the girl or the demon who offered healing to Behmen...for me, before it was revealed that the girl was posssessed by a demon, i was thinking that she could be a healing witch, just like the woman who was killed at the beginning who used herbs for healing..as many witches do..ad when she send across a distant it reminded me of the kind of healing i do (Reiki) which can be sent across a distance.
agree with you too Lady T that the film was depicting the attitude of the time, I guess it is purely my agenda I am projecting here and I was glad to see the ambiguity in the movie.
Lol..the sexual connotation never occurred to me! though at the outset i had a hankering for there to be the tension of a possible romance between Behmen and 'the girl'!
though at the outset i had a hankering for there to be the tension of a possible romance between Behmen and 'the girl'!
