The Black Death(2010)

The Black Death(2010)

Director: Christopher Smith

Writer: Dario Poloni

"The fumes of the dead are in the air like poison. The plague, more cruel and more pitiless than war, descended upon us. A pestilence, that would leave half of our kingdom dead. Where did it come from? What carried its germ. The priests told us it was God's punishment. For what sin? What commandment must we break that could earn this? No, we knew the truth. This was not God's work, but devilry. Or witchcraft. But our task, to hunt down a demon, was God's cure."

     While searching on the internet about my topic, I found the movie, which is set in the 14^th century Europe, the Black Death had been a raging epidemic. I easily pulled into the movie because I read a lot of date about the Black Death.

I got a chance to experience how terrible it was: lots of bodies lie along the street, the mistaken notion of the causes of the disease and a witch hunter. It gave me several ideas.

     First, it is how the Black Death affected religion. Before the epidemic, people were so religious that they thought the plague was a punishment of God. People depended on religion to overcome the plague. Some devout people begged for mercy to god by flagellated themselves. However, priests could not find a solution, and they also died from the virus like common people who got the Black Death. How could they still rely on religion? People began to turn their back on God. It is no wonder that the people lost of esteem for the church.

    Procession of Flagellants - Francisco Goya                                 Black Death Movie(2010)                           Second is a witch hunt. In the movie, the emissary of the bishop went to a village where there the epidemic did not spread. They received an order to catch a necromancer since the bishop thought that the reason why the village people did not get the plague was because of the necromancer. Maybe, the leadership needed a scapegoat to maintain its social status. By a witch hunt, the leadership wanted to divert the attention of the people. Who was a victim? How many people died without trouble?I want to find more information about a witch hunt.