source: Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages

Trailer—Häxan

This is a documentary, but a documentary that doesn't give much informations. It gives more of an emotional insight of what witchcraft meant back in the days. The movie transported that amazingly. - A truly unusual documentary. My god, I am amazed what you can do without color, without voices and without modern special effects. I have never seen so realistic looking mystical creatures. Even though you don't see "a lot", this is a great visual experience. The musical score: I am a fan of classical music, even with a black screen, I would have loved watching the movie. Absolutely fitting classical scores have been used for this movie.

I found this 1922 "documentary" to be amazing in it's inovative and creative portrayal of witchcraft in the middle ages. Scenes of nudity and torture made this film very controversial in 1922 and caused it to be banned as well as greatly edited in later versions. Criterion has done a great job of preserving the film as it was intended to be seen with censored footage restored, an excellent tinted print, a corrected "projection" speed, a new score that recreates the music played at the original Danish premiere, and some interesting extras. The 1968 William Burroughs narrarated version is also included here and it's pretty ridiculous. The jazz soundtrack is just so very wrong. But still, it's interesting to see, kind of like the "Love Conquers All" version of Brazil. I think that anyone who is interested in film and film history will find this dvd facinating.

This film gives us a thoughtful look at the horrifying potential of fear, ignorance and superstition. I have to say I admire the courage Benjamin Christensen showed in making this film which not only must have offended the sensibilities of the time for the obvious reasons but also because it dared to champion reason over superstition as a way of explaining things which we do not fully understand. This film resonates with its message that those who judged others unjust may not have been just themselves.