The Reckoning
An Exiled Priest. A Mysterious Murder. A Crime Of Passion.
Willem Dafoe (Shadow of the Vampire) and Paul Bettany (Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World) deliver powerful performances in this riveting story of temptation, murder and redemption.
Against the turbulent backdrop of England during the Middle Ages, a priest (Bettany), on the run from his disgraceful past, encounters a ragtag band of traveling actors who are searching for their next performance. Soon after arriving together at an unknown village, the troupe discovers that a mute woman has been sentenced to death for the murder of a local boy. To seek out the truth, the leader of the actors (Dafoe) decides to break tradition of performing biblical plays and stages a performance based on the alleged facts of the crime.
Suddenly the stage becomes the setting for solving a spellbinding murder-mystery...one that will reveal the power of art, the temptation of evil and the ultimate cost of justice.
Member Reviews
Medieval Murder Mystery - c4th
Only a handful of fictional murder mysteries have been set in medieval times and written for film. That alone makes The Reckoning a reasonable choice for viewers seeking something in the sub-genre. Unfortunately, it suffers from a low budget look and feel despite authentic looking settings and costumes.
There are only about four recognizable actors in the cast. In early scenes, the director fails to give sufficient attention to minor characters, especially those without dialogue. Still, the solid acting of his core group of actors, led by Paul Bettany and Willem Dafoe, manages to carry the film. The piece gains momentum in a much better second half as it reveals a constitution of power that creates poverty designed to feed its own corruption and impropriety while those who seek justice fall prey to it.
The Reckoning is a morality play set in times when power was shared by church and state but its religious tones can be embraced or ignored. It is first and foremost a murder mystery that refreshingly steps outside modern day time setting. Despite being laboriously slow in the beginning as it sets up the mystery, the second half makes up for it as the mystery unravels to reveal the true identity of the perpetrator and all his accomplices. In the end, corruption falls prey to its own indiscretions and justice is served.The play's the thing - Diversitility
This is a film that is sure to please fans of medieval-retro books and films. The film is intense from start to finish. I was concerned at the outset that the movie would be violent and lurid, but the director showed a good deal of restraint, and even queasy viewers will be able to handle some of the more grotesque twists of the plot. In a funny sort of way, the film feels like a play, and indeed the plot revolves around a traveling theatre company in late 14th century England. The actors, inspired by a defrocked priest (played by an intense, bug-eyed Paul Bettany), stumble into a real-life mystery which they try to untangle by artistic means.The whole thing is somewhat contrived, but I was nevertheless carried along by the energy of the performances and by the spooky plot.If you're able to suspend your disbelief and you have a historical bent, this film should do the trick for you!Very well done..a must watch for period drama pieces - Trixnbun
This is not one I would have watched normally as many period pieces focus with some religion base focus on the wars and so forth. However I became taken with this movie from the start.
I can say this much without giving away the plot twists and turns. The costumes and acting were wonderful, and they stayed true to the lifestyle in the movie. Such as when the animals were butchered the blood was let into a specific area. The plays that the actors performed were only to be based on religious stories.
Nicholas, the priest, has an affair with a married parshioneer, and leaves his town running away. He meets up with the rag tag group of actors that are travelling and attempting to make ends meet.
They come to a town where a mute woman is accused of killing a boy. She is innocent, or so it appears. The play wrights in trying to right the wrongs uncover secrets that are hidden and unspoken off. To dig deeper they hold a play based on the murder which is a shock to the townspeople.
Even thought it is almost 2 hours long it doesn't feel that way in watching it, it does draw you in.
Member Reviews
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Medieval Murder Mystery - c4th
Only a handful of fictional murder mysteries have been set in medieval times and written for film. That alone makes The Reckoning a reasonable choice for viewers seeking something in the sub-genre. Unfortunately, it suffers from a low budget look and feel ...The play's the thing - Diversitility
This is a film that is sure to please fans of medieval-retro books and films. The film is intense from start to finish. I was concerned at the outset that the movie would be violent and lurid, but the director showed a good deal of restraint, and even queasy ...Very well done..a must watch for period drama pieces - Trixnbun
This is not one I would have watched normally as many period pieces focus with some religion base focus on the wars and so forth. However I became taken with this movie from the start.
I can say this much without giving away the plot twists and turns. ...