Akelarre

Synopsis

A peculiar, courageous, disturbing film about the witch-hunt in the Basque Country in the 17th century. The filmmaker from Bilbao Pedro Olea reflects, with great attention to pictorial and anthropological detail, the cruelty of religious fanaticism —the torture scenes are spine-chilling—, the weight of pagan beliefs in everyday life back in those days —outstanding reconstruction of primitive rituals, of rural environments…—, and at the same time condemns the abuses of the prevailing feudal power, instrumentalizing the paranoia of the Inquisition. Its lead actress and actor, Sílvia Munt and José Luis López Vázquez, are incredible.