Day of Wrath
Herlofs Marte is accused of witchcraft, which, as we all know, is an automatic death sentence. But what she knows is that the elder pastor of the town, Absolon, got the last witch off, because he was interested in wedding her daughter. So Marte thinks she might be able to convince Absolon to get her off as well. This introduces this story about doubt, sin, romance and hatred.
I'm not sure what I expected of this 1943 Dreyer film. I certainly didn't expect it to so much resemble the film he made a decade later, Ordet. But I did expect that the performances would match Ordet and perhaps The Passion of Joan. Unfortunately, apart from Anna Svierkier who played Marte, I didn't find the acting to be very good.
Thematically, what I especially got was about how testimony in the court could go wrong, in every possible way. When one's faith or desire gets too much in the way, testimony can be sincerely wrong.
Overall, a strong work, but not exceptional.
7.5