Day of Wrath

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Leo P This powerful masterpiece is consumed by poetry and religious hatred. Whether Dreyer condones extramarital affairs as a rule is not clear, but the free-spirited Anne is the sole character we can empathize with. Dreyer leaves no doubt who's to blame for her ill fate by transforming the Christian cross into an arrow in the very last frame of the movie. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 10/06/25 Full Review Leaburn O For me this is Dreyer's best and most compelling work. Without doubt his most accessible but without compromising on his interest in religious themes. A precursor to The Crucible in many ways and this particular witching is darker and more intensely intimate. I found it powerful and well worth a view. Had to buy this one on DVD as again streaming in the UK and catching on TV was a non starter. A great addition to my foreign language diary but cost a whack to buy a copy through the BFI. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/16/23 Full Review dave s In 1623 Denmark, a young woman lives with her aging husband, a local pastor, and her hateful mother-in-law. When her husband's son from a previous marriage arrives on the scene, the dynamics within the family unit change radically as the son and the young woman fall in love. And one can't forget the witch hunts being conducted, a brutal practice that hangs a dark cloud over the entire affair as the church uses its power to control the populace through fear and intimidation. Carl Dreyer's Day of Wrath is a remarkably bleak film in both theme and style. Shot in stark black and white, Dreyer fills the screen with beautifully orchestrated long takes, filled with effective tracking shots and creative pans. One of Dreyer's best efforts, it is a visual wonder and a sobering reminder of the dangers of the abuse of power. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review William L Random Woman: "I would like to be independent and self-determining. I find no joy in being a cold husk withering away in self-deprived and unwanted piety, devoid of all emotions." The Church: "Get the choir together, we've got a witch to burn." Slowly paced, oppressively atmospheric, and surprisingly brutal, Day of Wrath is an exploration of fear, desire, and persecution conducted in the name of virtuousness, all told in the visual style of Rembrandt. Characters cloaked carefully in dark shadow or illuminated by hainting candlelight, reeling as they contend with their own inner conflicts inspired by an authoritarian society. While claimed by Dreyer himself not to have been made explicitly in reference to Nazis despite the wartime circumstances of the film's production, Day of Wrath presents strong parallels that the National Socialist German Workers' Party certainly embodied as the then-most-recent successor to a substantial historical lineage enforcing a particular sense of morality and authority that is hypocritical and inconsistent in its justifications, really only serving as a means of gaining control over others. In the plot of this particular film, that role is served through the Church and its clergy, particularly as it relates to the suppression of independence and divergent thought among women. And yet, it's not as if the characters enforcing the 'rule of law' are wholly evil, and that is Dreyer's masterstroke - Thorkild Roose's Absalon gradually becomes self-reflecting and remorseful, but the distinctions between his role as a member of the clergy and his silently suffering wife Anne (Lisbeth Movin) are too great to rectify even when recognized, thus driving the two ideological sides of the film even further apart in a tragic and ironic twist. Still wholly relevant as a treatise on the psychology of totalitarianism and religious fervor. The slow pace might be (and has been) a limiting factor in its popular reception, but remains key for developing the simmering atmosphere of mistrust and hate boiling beneath the surface of a domestic existence. Dreyer bucks the trend by taking (not necessarily by choice) a decade absence between films and creating a classic regardless. (4/5) Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 07/18/22 Full Review s r Intense drama exposing how morals can be easily corrupted in religious Denmark. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Day of Wrath is an elegant film the family, officials, and saints who misuse power in the face of sin and disorder. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Day of Wrath

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