Kladivo na Carodejnice (Witches' Hammer) - Freakyflicks

Kladivo na carodejnice

(Witches' hammer, 1970, dir. Otakar Vavra)An excellent Czech film by Otakar Vavra, the man who taught Milos Forman and Vera Chytilova how to make films



Description



This disturbing film concerns the witch hunts and inquisition that sent many of the accused to their deaths in Moravia in the latter part of the 17th century. When a Catholic priest sees a woman hide a host, he speaks out against her. An inquisitor is coaxed out of retirement to investigate, and he seizes the opportunity for his own gain. Subsequent hordes of people from all walks of life are accused and their property is confiscated, making the greedy inquisitor rich. The accused naturally confess after being brutally tortured, and their forced "confession" lead to their horrible deaths. After hundreds are burned to death, the priest comes to regret his actions which set off the macabre chain of events.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064546/



Specifications



DVDrip - not mine.

Format: AVI

Format/Info: Audio Video Interleave

Format/Family: RIFF

File size: 700 MiB

PlayTime: 1h 42mn

Bit rate: 947 Kbps



Video



Codec: XviD

Codec/Family: MPEG-4

Codec/Info: XviD project

PlayTime: 1h 42mn

Bit rate: 727 Kbps

Width: 624 pixels

Height: 336 pixels

Aspect ratio: 1.857

Frame rate: 25.000 fps

Resolution: 8 bits

Chroma: 4:2:0

Interlacement: Progressive

Bits/(Pixel*Frame): 0.139



Audio



Codec: MPEG-1 Audio layer 3

Codec profile: Joint stereo

PlayTime: 1h 42mn

Bit rate: 207 Kbps

Bit rate mode: VBR

Channel(s): 2 channels

Sampling rate: 48 KHz

Resolution: 16 bits

Writing library: LAME3.96r

Encoding settings: ABR



Language:



Spoken Czech, English subtitles (plaintext sub)IMDB review:



An old woman is caught taking a consecrated host from a church in order to cure a sick cow, and the witch hunt is on. It matters not if one is innocent or not, for each captive is tortured and made to inform on their colleagues, whether they have any or not, and all signs of "innocence" are shrugged off as the work of the Devil anyway. Of course, this "professional jurist" that is doing the trying stands to benefit greatly from the deaths of some of these people, as he gets their land, their homes, etc. As time goes by more and more respectable people are drawn into this mire, with little regard for who they are or their standing in the community.



This is a well done film, and is in stark black and white, which works well in this case. It's not terribly graphic but it's graphic enough, with torture scenes with boot and thumbscrew that aren't for the particularly squeamish. And by no means is it a cheery film either, but I doubt anyone would venture into it with its title expecting that. Highly recommended for those who like foreign films and films about witch hunts.



For screenshots, see:

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