Day of Wrath

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Carl Th. Dreyer’s tale of a town tormented by accusations of witchcraft is nothing short of extraordinary.  Just ask Jonathan Rosenbaum:

Carl Dreyer made this extraordinary 1943 drama, about the church’s persecution of women for witchcraft in the 17th century, during the German occupation of Denmark. He later claimed that he hadn’t sought to pursue any contemporary parallels while adapting the play Anne Petersdotter (which concerns adultery as well as witchcraft), but that seems disingenuous–Day of Wrath may be the greatest film ever made about living under totalitarian rule. Astonishing in its artistically informed period re-creation as well as its hypnotic mise en scene (with some exceptionally eerie camera movements), it challenges the viewer by suggesting at times that witchcraft isn’t so much an illusion as an activity produced by intolerance. And like Dreyer’s other major films, it’s sensual to the point of carnality. I can’t think of another 40s film that’s less dated.

If that doesn’t help explain why everyone should see this film I don’t know what will.  It may be slow and patient, but if you give this film some of your time and effort you will be infinitely rewarded.  It was without a doubt one of the most inspiring films I saw last year (I saw it for the first time on the big screen).

Watch this film to see how it pushed the envelope and then takepart to make sure we keep our religious liberties intact with the ACLU.

Day of Wrath was not nominated for and did not win an Academy Award®