The Witch

Spoilers!

2015's THE WITCH was a truly unsettling experience for me, and you might note that my Christian faith would make me especially vulnerable.  The "spiritual warfare" (a commonly used phrase among believers) is quite literal here, both in visible imagery and that which is not seen, which of course is far more disturbing.  But I kept wondering how someone who practices witchcraft (in whatever formality) would take it.  Would they cheer the finale? Would they find writer/director Robert Eggers film an empowerment tale for a young woman repeatedly branded a witch by the other members of her Puritan family? Freedom? An escape from dogma, perhaps only to adopt one of a different stripe?

A family finds themselves banished from a colony in seventeenth century New England over religious issues.  They are from the Old World and have now settled on a farm far from civilization.  They suffer crop failures, but cold hard tragedy hits when their newborn mysteriously disappears under the watch and care of his sister Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy).  Eggers will show us that the infant was snatched by a dark figure.  A witch.  Not Thomasin?

Patriarch William (Ralph Ineson) and matriarch Katherine (Kate Dickie) are steadfast in their prayers and their faith informs every action.  Some viewers may feel their view of God is quite primitive.  Certainly by contemporary standards.  Immeasurable guilt and fear and judgment.. Quick to assign blame based on hearsay.  The Savior is viewed as infallible and holy, apparently requiring the flock to live lives of misery and isolation, which only serves to harden their resolve.  Anything perceived to be a deviation from the Bible is considered blasphemous and unclean.  The puritanical may have (and still) believed that any joy in the world comes only from God.  The idea that any "good" in the world comes exclusively from God is a subject with which I struggle.

More tragedies occur.  About midway, son Caleb is also abducted by the witch and returns naked and sick to his family.   His final scene will be praised by Christians for its proclamation of victory over Death.  The family may have had eternal assurances, and they are made perfect in that moment.  Thomasin is again accused of engineering this grief.  She was with Caleb when he disappeared in the woods. Surely she is the witch of the title? But her other siblings, those annoying little twins, also speak of a spirit known as "Black Phillip", apparently housed within the family goat.  One day, it provides blood instead of milk.

Eggers' debut is often stunning - quite assured and frightening.  The production is meticulous and the most careful attention was paid to period detail.  The film informs us that some of the dialogue was taken from actual texts from the 1600s.  For a "horror" film it will be too slow for many viewers accustomed to easy, non-stop scares and carnage.  These sort of viewers don't do well with implications or subtext.  The thoughtful among you will discern more than just religious themes.  Puberty is a pretty obvious one as well.  The final scene is quite vivid and haunting; that cannot be argued. It (and the rest of the film) will give Christian and pagan much to ponder.  Whether you profess belief in a deity of any sort or think the entire thing is a fairy tale.