Quick-Plot:

A New England family is shunned by their community after an ambiguous dispute surrounding religious beliefs. The seven of them flee their small Puritan settlement to live independently on the edge of an allegedly dangerous wood.

To be accepted in a small community in 1630 is preeettty important to successful survival; What rudimentary services might have been available to the family are now cut off. It isn’t long before they get hungry, and things get weird…

The Nitty-Gritties

The film has been compared to The Revenant for its use of natural lighting.

Shot in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, Cinematographer Jarin Blaschke explains that he and Writer/Director Robert Eggers chose this ratio for its “timeless quality (. . .) It also had benefits of being able to make the house a little more claustrophobic and also show more height of the trees looming over the characters” – Variety

Complete with a soundscape and obsessive eye for detail reminiscent of Kubrick, Eggers attempts to immerse audiences through extensive historical accuracy and naturally lit scenery.

The film garnered the Directing Award for U.S. Dramatic at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.

New England and Religious Fanaticism

Perhaps the most notorious witch folklore on earth exists in the New England locale; Everyone is familiar with the Salem Witch Trials (1692). The Witch is set in 1630, speaks to the religious fervour that bred these ridiculous notions, and warns of the potential for religion to blur the lines between folklore and reality.

The whole family’s every thought seems bent on an all-consuming fear of Satan. Instead of comfort and peace, their Christian beliefs instill mania and are the root cause of the family’s growing suspicions toward one another: Fear-mongering “ministers, in their weekly sermons, demanded vigilance from congregations in identifying and quashing all traces of evil” MaineMemory.net

Eggers grew up in New England and seems eager to communicate the soul-crushing, inherent guilt he was burdened with as a child.

Vernacular accuracy adds to the creepiness of the piece, as Eggers uses dialogue from actual accounts of “possession” from the era.

Nature as Something to be Conquered

Wild spaces and Christianity don’t mix.  Seen as home to the devil and other evil spirits, the untamed freedom of the woods was viewed by Puritan settlers as corruptive and dangerous.

The hare, the goat, and the raven have all become symbols of evil. Logically, a goat really can’t be evil (he’s just dumb goat after all). But when the idea is repeated enough times it gains validity from repetition; thus a superstition is born out of thin air!

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Small, isolated, oral cultures breed superstition. Many women, and even men, have garnered the label of “witch” because they strayed from the strait and narrow path. Anyone who is different is vulnerable to snickering and rumours, the same as bullies in a schoolyard. Tell someone something enough times and they will eventually internalize it, and become self-fulfilling prophecies…

The official movie site is really worth checking out. (Warning: extremely creepy).

View the trailer, or find out when The Witch is playing at The Civic!

Heather Austin is a freelance writer living in Nelson, BC. She studied English Literature and Film at Memorial University of Newfoundland.  She enjoys skiing, canoeing, and thinking. hlaustincomposition.com