Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1943 parable about witch-finding and witch-burning in 17th-century Denmark is coldly brilliant.
Comment
07/08/03
Day of Wrath (1943)
100 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 19
Fresh: 19
Rotten:0
Average Rating: 8.6/10
Theatrical Release: 06-06-2003
Synopsis: Carl Theodor Dreyer directed this austere and beautiful tragedy, set in 16th century Denmark. A pastor presides over a trial for witchcraft, ultimately finding the accused guilty. He sentences her to death at the stake, but as she burns,... [More]
Starring: Lisbeth Movin, Thorkild Roose, Sigrid Neiiendam
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Reviews for Day of Wrath
1 - 19 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Top Critic A compelling family melodrama and a sombre exploration of how men co-opt religious dogma to oppress and punish female desires.
06/01/03
Top Critic I'd be saving a spot for it near the top of my 10-best list if the movie hadn't been made 65 years ago.
08/28/08
A stark, brooding treatment of adultery, incest, and murder, an elemental tragedy not so far from a James M. Cain triangle, albeit shot so as to deliberately evoke the Dutch masters.
08/28/08
A lesser Dreyer work, but only in comparison with his own achievements.
08/27/08
Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1943 masterpiece begins as a film about seventeenth-century witch hunts in Northern Europe, but it’s really a psychological thriller about the pull of evil on weak souls.
08/25/08
Dryer's precision proves highly effective in creating the film's mood of dark oppression, and every detail is perfectly in keeping with the film's tone %u2013 which often resembles a thriller.
07/12/08
Dreyer's fluid, softly moving camera that takes in long, slow shots heightens the sensual nature of the film as well as its mystery.
02/29/08
Astonishing in its artistically informed period re-creation as well as its hypnotic mise en scene, it challenges the viewer by suggesting at times that witchcraft isn't so much an illusion as an activity produced by intolerance.
01/19/07
There couldn't be a clearer statement made about the powerful who persecute their subjects in the name of religion.
07/26/05
The triple crosses of faith, doubt, and heresy are borne by Dreyer's characters across a cinematic landscape of darkness and light, shadow and substance.
03/10/03
Day of Wrath is probably the simplest of the Dreyer films that I've seen, but it is still a great work.
03/05/02
Dreyer was a master of conveying emotion in a way that can only be called "literary"
09/10/01
A study of good and evil, repression and oppression, sexuality and guilt, Day of Wrath is a truly spiritual film.
01/01/00
1 - 19 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Related Forums for Day of Wrath
(1943)-Carl Dreyer's DAY OF WRATH gets a new print & screening @ the NY FILM FESTIVAL
by: REEL_REVIEWER 8/29
by: REEL_REVIEWER 8/29
(1943)-Carl Dreyer's DAY OF WRATH gets a new print & screening @ the NY FILM FESTIVAL
by: REEL_REVIEWER 8/29
by: REEL_REVIEWER 8/29
(1943)-Carl Dreyer's DAY OF WRATH gets a new print & screening @ the NY FILM FESTIVAL
by: REEL_REVIEWER 8/29
by: REEL_REVIEWER 8/29
(1943)-Carl Dreyer's DAY OF WRATH gets a new print & screening @ the NY FILM FESTIVAL
by: REEL_REVIEWER 8/29
by: REEL_REVIEWER 8/29
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