Day of Wrath 43

As "Day of Wrath" opens in 1600s Denmark, we meet the Pederssøn family: the Reverend (Absalon), his mother (Merete), and his young second wife (Anne). The family prepares for the arrival of the Reverend's son (Martin) from his first marriage. We learn that Martin is actually older than his new step-mother, and Merete thinks the entire situation a scandal. She's clearly not fond of her new daughter-in-law and expects trouble. The first scene quickly lays forth the family dynamics - Merete is clearly in control (she even keeps charge of the house keys), and Anne is unhappy in her marriage.

We also meet Herlofs Marte, an old neighbor woman who is accused of witchcraft. Why she is suspected of witchery is unclear, but her neighbors don't seem to require much justification. In a chilling scene, Marte is burned at the stake as Anne watches; the fire is reflected eerily in Anne's eyes to stunning effect. Over the next several days, Anne becomes closer to her step-son, to whom she turns for comfort following the burning. The remainder of the story spins from their relationship and the resulting reactions.

"Day of Wrath" was made in 1943 by the great Danish filmmaker, Carl Theodor Dreyer ("Ordet" and "The Passion of Joan of Arc"). The film maintains a somber and moody tone throughout, and the pacing is often glacier-like, which makes it a bit draggy but also heightens the tension for the patient viewer. The cinematography is first-rate, and the use of shadows is particularly dramatic. A number of films have used witch hunts as a metaphor, but this movie is one of the better ones. "Day of Wrath" was made in 1943, during the Nazi occupation of Denmark. Putting it into that context makes the film quite affecting, even if the movie seems hopelessly cold to modern eyes. The Nazi response to the film was understandably negative, and Dreyer apparently went into hiding. He didn't make another movie until "Ordet" (1955), which many people consider his greatest masterpiece. "Day of Wrath" is actually the first Dreyer film I've seen, but viewing this first-rate cinema has made me want to seek out some of his other works.

I thought this film displayed an intriguing picture of the age of fear, when people were hunted and killed on suspicion. The pre-enlightenment pathos highlighted in Day of Wrath, a philosophy that controlled people and their emotions, was shown as a dangerous ethic in this film. The film did not rely on technology (for obvious reasons), but painted a bleak picture using early cinematographic techniques that worked. Watching the film, I was convinced that the events could have actually occurred.
The film has a startling (for 1943) scene of partial nudity, though really...nothing can be seen. Still, it was surprising.
The characters are deep. Deepest of course, are the two leads in their antithetical relationship. Absolon, a religious figure whose absolute influence over the community fundamentally defies his wife's need for love and compassion. His wife becomes a victim of society, virtually because of the premise of guilt-by-association. Their strained relationship (which Absolon's mother thinks is "scandalous") becomes unravelled when Absolon's son, Martin, returns home (Martin is older than his step mother). Social hatred and fear prevail at the end of the movie when the wife must confess to witchcraft, thus falling prey to the very fears society seeks to cover up.
This was a very good movie, and a study in structuing the mood of storytelling through film, without the use of $Billion dollar computers.

At first glance, Dreyer's "Day of Wrath" may seem like a retread of the same themes found in his "Passion of Joan of Arc": both are austere meditations on the nature of faith, devotion and hipocrisy; both dwell on the horrifying results of the mob mentality with respect to religion, where the majority thinks it has the one, true answer and takes it upon itself to rid the world of evil and transgression. But "Day of Wrath" is even more layered than "Passion"; where the latter is a silent scream, the former is a much more subtle exploration of both love and faith. The horror for the young wife in "Day of Wrath" who falls in love with her older husband's son is in silence itself. She feels one way--about love and about faith--but must remain mute, hidden behind a mask if she wishes to survive. The result is harrowing, though, for she lives in a society that imposes neat and cruel constraints for what they feel is transgressive. Dreyer's message was prescient, for we still live in a world where one's diversity makes one a pariah. Perhaps we always will.

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