Cinema
Witchhammer
Kladivo na čarodějnice
Otakar Vávra · 1970
Synopsis
Northern Moravia, 1678. A beggar woman caught stealing a consecrated host sets off the affair: the countess of Velké Losiny, frightened, sends for the lay inquisitor Jindřich Boblig. Through torture, he obtains confessions of imaginary witchcraft and further denunciations, which soon reach his opponents, among them the dean of Šumperk, Kryštof Lautner, and wealthy burghers whose property can be confiscated.
Context
The film follows Václav Kaplický's novel, published in 1963, drawn from the witchcraft trials of Velké Losiny and Šumperk, between 1678 and 1695; the screenplay, written with Ester Krumbachová, draws on the surviving trial records and suggests an analogy with the political trials of the fifties. Shot in 1969, with Vladimír Šmeral as Boblig and Elo Romančík as Lautner, to music by Jiří Srnka, it was released on 23 January 1970.
Who it is for
One hundred and three minutes, in black and white; interrogations and torture take up a large place in it.
Prizes and reception
Awarded a prize at the Mar del Plata festival in 1970; counted among its director's best films.