Season of the Witch is a 2011 American fantasy action film starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Dominic Sena. Cage stars with Ron Perlman as Teutonic Knights, who return from the Crusades to find their fatherland ruined by the Black Death. Two church elders accuse a girl (Claire Foy) of being a witch and being responsible for the destruction and command the knights to transport the girl to a monastery so the monks there can lift her curse from the land.[3]Development on the film began in 2000 when the spec script by screenwriter Bragi F. Schut was purchased by MGM. The project moved from MGM to Columbia Pictures to Lionsgate (as a co-production with Relativity Media). Ultimately, the film was produced by Charles Roven and Alex Gartner. Filming took place primarily in Austria, Hungary and Croatia. Originally set to be released by Lionsgate, Relativity decided to release Season of the Witch themselves onJanuary 7, 2011 in the United States, Canada and several other territories.
Set in the 14th century, three women accused of witchcraft are hanged by a priest. The priest performs a ritual to prevent the bodies from coming back to life. While successfully completing the ritual for two of the bodies, the third takes on a demonic appearance and kills the priest. Meanwhile, Teutonic Knights Behmen of Bleibruck (Cage) and Felson (Perlman) are engaged in a (fictional) crusade, taking part in several different battles throughout the 1330s, eventually taking part in the Smyrniote crusades. After witnessing the massacre of civilians during the 1344 capture of Smyrna, the two knights choose to desert the Order and the crusade and return to Germany.
While traveling through Styria, they encounter the grotesque sight of people infected with theBlack Death and soon discover that the Holy Roman Empire has been swept by the plague. Upon entering the medieval town of Marburg, the two try to conceal their identity as deserters, but are revealed as knights by the crest on Behmen's sword, and he and Felson are arrested. They are taken to Cardinal D'Ambroise, who is infected with the plague. The Cardinal asks the knights to escort an alleged witch suspected of causing the plague, to a remote monastery where an elite group of monks reside, capable of determining if the girl is truly a witch. If she is found guilty, the monks know a sacred ritual that can cancel her powers, and stop the plague that is devastating Europe. The two knights agree under the condition that she will be given a fair trial and that the charges of desertion against them are dropped. The Cardinal agrees, and they set out accompanied by a priest Debelzeq, Kay of Wollenbarth, a young altar boy who wants to become a knight like his deceased father, Eckhart, a knight whose family were killed by the plague, and the well-traveled swindler Hagamar who is serving as their guide to the monastery in return for a pardon. The witch, a young girl later identified as Anna, shows hatred towards Debelzeq and forms a bond with Behmen.
Shortly after setting off, the group camp for the night, and Eckhart volunteers to watch the witch for the first night. After a while, Debelzeq comes to relieve Eckhart, who decides to remain with him. He tells Debelzeq about his daughter Mila, who resembled Anna. When Eckhart gets up to leave, Anna becomes hysterical at the prospect of being left alone with the priest, attacking him and grabbing his key to the cage. She escapes and flees toward a nearby village. The search for her leads the group to a mass grave, where Eckhart has visions of his dead daughter. Running after the visions, he impales himself on Kay's sword and dies. When they recapture her, the tearful Anna explains that she only ran away for fear of Debelzeq. One man down, the group become less trusting of Anna. The group manage to successfully cross a rickety rope bridge, during which Anna saves Kay from falling to his death by grabbing him with one hand, showing an unnatural strength. The group enter the dark forest called Wormwood, where Hagamar attempts to kill Anna so the group can go home, only to be stopped by the others. Anna appears to summon wolves, who chase the group and kill Hagamar. An enraged Behmen tries to kill Anna, but is stopped by Felson, who points out that the monastery is in sight.
Arriving at the monastery, the men find all of the monks have been killed by the plague but locate the Key of Solomon, an ancient book filled with holy rituals used to defeat evil. The men confront Anna, with Debelzeq beginning to perform a ritual used on witches. However, as Anna begins precisely recanting stories from Behmen's past, Debelzeq comes to the realization that she is not a witch, and begins frantically performing an exorcism. However, the demon that is possessing Anna reveals itself and melts the metal. The demon effortlessly fights off the knights, but when Debelzeq throws a vial of holy water on it, it flies away out of sight. As the men search for the demon, they come to the realization that it isn't trying to escape, but is trying to destroy the book so that nothing can stop it. When they find a room where the monks were writing copies of the book, the demon appears, destroys the copies and possesses the dead monks' bodies to use as weapons. The three men fight the possessed monks while Debelzeq continues the exorcism ritual. During the fight, the demon kills Debelzeq, then proceeds to kill Felson. Kay picks up the book and continues the ritual, while Behmen continues fighting the demon. Behmen is mortally wounded during the fight, but Kay is able to finish the ritual and the demon is obliterated, freeing Anna. Behmen asks Kay to keep Anna safe, then dies of his wounds.
Kay and Anna bury their fallen friends, and Anna requests that Kay tell her about the men who saved her; they depart from the monastery with the book in hand.
CAST
- Nicolas Cage as Behman of Bleibruck
- Ron Perlman as Felson
- Claire Foy as Anna (credited as The Girl)
- Stephen Campbell Moore as Debelzaq
- Robert Sheehan as Kay von Wollenbarth
- Ulrich Thomsen as Johann Eckhardt
- Stephen Graham as Hagamar
- Christopher Lee as Cardinal D'Ambroise
Cage stars as Behman of Bleibruck, a Teutonic knight who returns from the Crusades to discover the devastation caused by the Black Plague. The actor had worked with director Dominic Sena on Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)[4] and with producer Charles Roven on City of Angels (1998).[5] Cage was interested in the film's fantastical subject matter, also having recently starred in The Sorcerer's Apprentice.[6] He also described Behmen as "the first" conscientious objector, saying, "I admired... the idea of him breaking from whatever religious propaganda was forced upon him, and still finding an even closer connection with his faith and with God. Those iconoclastic elements to the character made him very interesting to me."[5] For the role, Cage learned horseback riding from Camilla Naprous and her team of horse trainers in England. Cage also worked with a fight choreographer to learn swordfighting.[6]
Perlman plays Felson, a knight who is Behmen's best friend and fellow combatant during the Crusades. Perlman said of choosing the role, "I love the character. I'm actually more comfortable being a sidekick, because I don't get blamed if it is a complete disaster. I really liked ... his mindset, I liked his irreverence. In the world of seriousness, he's a guy who thinks it's all bullshit. He's just in it for the whores and the sword fights."[7] Perlman described Felson's religion, "Whereas Behmen has a very well-articulated idea of his relationship to country and church and spirituality and God, Felson has none. He doesn't bother to spend any time thinking about that."[8]
Foy appears in her feature-film debut as the girl who is accused of being a witch. Known for her titular role in the British miniseries Little Dorrit, she met Sena and sought the role in Season of the Witch. She explained the choice, "It's quite a manipulative role; the character does a lot of manipulating. Pitting other people against each other, being quite mischievous... That was something I thought would obviously be good to do."[9] Foy researched witchcraft and demonic possession for the role. She described its appeal, "Playing a character that was making things happen, and mainly in control of an entire group of men. And for once, be the character that is completely in the know about everything. There is nothing that she doesn't know. Nothing is a surprise. And she is able to deal with every single situation that arises the way that she sees fit. And I think that was quite refreshing to be able to play a character that wasn't entirely beholden to everyone else
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