Black Death

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Category: Adventure

Year: 2010

Rating: 6.6/10 ()

Director: Christopher Smith

Country: UK

Language: English

Runtime:97 min

Release Date: 11 June 2010 (UK) See more »

Taglines: Repent See more »

Movie Storyline
Set during the time of the first outbreak of bubonic plague in England, a young monk is tasked with learning the truth about reports of people being brought back to life, a mission that pulls him toward a village ruler who has made a dark pact with evil forces.

Cast:
Sean Bean - Ulric
Eddie Redmayne - Osmund
David Warner - The Abbot
Carice van Houten - Langiva
Kimberley Nixon - Averill
Tim McInnerny - Hob
John Lynch - Wolfstan
Andy Nyman - Dalywag
Johnny Harris - Mold
Tygo Gernandt - Ivo
Emun Elliott - Swire
Marianne Graffam - Suspected Witch
Jamie Ballard - Griff
Nike Martens - Elena
Gotthard Lange - Labourer
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Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

Color: Color

Filming Locations: Blankenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

Official Site(s): Official site [Germany] | Official site [United States] |

Trivia:
Rupert Friend was initially cast as Osmund but was replaced by Eddie Redmayne.

Goofs:
Anachronisms: In the 14th century the candles in the monastery would be made of tallow, not wax as shown in the film.

User Review:

Good exploration of the nature of religion, rated: 8/10
While some may see this movie as having a not so subtle undertone of 'the greatness of Christianity', I saw it as an interesting exploration of religion itself. The characters in this movie all differ in their religious views, allowing you to identify with them based on your own religious persuasion. There is the fanatic, the believer, the non believer, the good, the bad, the in between etc.

The plot itself helps this journey, as the characters move from one setting to a vastly different one, all the while suffering the same basic experiences. Their initial motivations, in addition to their reactions to these experiences, all differ along the lines of their beliefs, and help either strengthen or weaken those beliefs. This movie shows quite well, that people's attitudes to religion have not changed in hundreds of years. God is still used to explain things we do not understand, and fear and "miracles" are still used to recruit and keep believers.

Human behaviour also has not changed much. Even faced with the 'black death', one of the worst pandemics in human history, people still found reason to divide and fight amongst themselves assigning blame and punishment rather than band together. The way these themes fit in so appropriately with the medieval setting, makes it all the more surprising that they can still be applied in today's world. All in all, a good movie for open minded people because although the film explores these themes, it makes no conclusion. That is left to the audience to determine who was right, who was justified and who was wrong; who was good and who was evil.