Black Death
Out now in UK cinemas, Sean Bean battles to save lives and souls during the height of the bubonic plague in Black Death.Christopher Smith must rue the day that Neil Marshall was born. Both men have excelled in genre fare over the last few years but Marshall seems to have made much more of a mark with his films, despite Smith’s best efforts. Both have made horror-comedy but Dog Soldiers is more known that Severance, and both have also made claustrophobic horror but its fair to say that The Descent made far more of a splash than Creep ever did. Now Smith’s latest film Black Death finally comes out after having its date changed as to not clash with Marshall’s own Centurion. It’s a rather odd turn of events that Marshall seems to be more well regarded though as Smith’s films are of a comparable quality at least in my view, Creep in particular for being an incredibly satisfying gory feast. Smith may hope to have a bit more of a chance to get some acclaim with his new effort Black Death though as Marshall’s rather more star filled Centurion sank without much of a trace upon release in April.
It is the time of the bubonic plague and an ever increasing amount of people are dying, but there is one area which appears to have escaped the disease. Rather than a miracle though, this is seen by the establishment as a sign of Paganism being enacted and soldier Ulrich (Sean Bean) is sent out with a group of men to find out the truth. Joining them as their guide is trainee monk Osmund (Eddie Redmayne) who volunteers to guide them but has very personal reasons of his own for doing so.
In all honesty, I did not know what to expect out of Black Death. It being a relatively small release, not much word had spread as to the quality of the film and so I went in with no real preconceptions other than what was given by the film’s trailer and it must be said that if this is the case for you, expectations may need to be realigned slightly. Action appears to be the name of the game with that trailer, and for obvious reasons in terms of grabbing an audience, but the film itself is pretty light on the action and the violence, but on the upside its far more stylish, atmospheric and plain unnerving than that also lets on.
The idea of a Black Death sweeping the country is an undeniably terrifying one and this film does a fantastic job in setting up the world in which this disease thrives. Playfully focusing on a rat before leaving this and onto talk of God punishing the Earth, there are proclamations of sinners damning the world, disgusting symptoms shown in detail and dead bodies all over the place all of which is tied to a perpetually muted colour palette which brings you almost effortlessly into the rank and depressing world where our characters live. Smith gets the world up and running quickly and also the plot with the real drive of it explained within the first act. If there is a slight complaint about this, I would say that there may be too much exposition at this point as later in the film it feels as if events would be more satisfying with more of an air of mystery about the thing.
Saying this though, I could also see an argument for Smith not actually caring all that much about what we are told is at first the real plot of the film as surprisingly, it becomes a far more character driven piece as it goes on. The character of Osmund seems at first deceptively simple. He is a young monk who is tempted to leave the constant worship of God for the love of a woman, and then what happens when he makes a choice between the two. His story drives the film and while Eddie Redmayne may not be the most charismatic performer in the world, the way his naiviety crumbles away through the runtime makes the last 15 minutes of the film genuinely shocking, disturbing and actually fairly moving. The film has a fantastic story to tell, its just not the one you may expect it to be.
The actual Black Death material though is still well told, though as said earlier, the mapping out of the plot early on does not help. When the men get to the village where the Death hasn’t struck, it is made far too obvious what is actually going on there and while Smith does a great job in creating tension out of a situation you already know, you do ever so slightly will the film to get on with what is coming. When it does, its actually rather more muted than you may expect though arguably this makes it more nerve racking and also allows Smith to create what is one of the most memorable shots of the year (a close up shot of one of the soldiers I shall say). Indeed the skill of the direction throughout is well handled, Smith combining the visceral violence of Creep, the flatout painful looking stuff of Severance but also the nervousness of Triangle and creating something that does take from other films but at the same time feels absolutely his own.
You may have noticed a distinct lack of Bean talk in this review but he gives a perfectly decent performance, he’s just not the force you may expect. He acts as the angel/devil on Osmund’s shoulder, trying to give him strength through Christ while also unknowingly pushing Osmund away but his integrity and pure badass nature still shine through. Carice Van Houten acts as the other angel/devil and does a decent job in making the audience second guess themselves at moments with an at times mesmeric way of performing which suits the nature of the role to perfection. Eddie Redmayne is also a decent choice for a lead, going through all the changes in his character convincingly and seemingly aging before our eyes. It’s not a world changer but in a world filled with bland performances for young male actors, he does a fine job.
This is by a far distance Christopher Smith’s most successful film so far, at least for me. It has an air about it which feels unique in terms of cinematically released genre cinema and while it takes in ideas from certain other horrors of the past, it also concerns itself with trying to tell a rather human story about what can happen to a man when he is pulled just too far by two opposing forces. It’s a film I thoroughly recommend and will be seeing again at the earliest opportunity, and if you are a fan of quality genre cinema, I very much implore you to give Black Death your money while it’s still about.
