Really Surprised!

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

This is a spoiler alert - as I refer to something occurring at the end of the story: I have only one thing to add to the already submitted reviews. Who is "William" at the end? He's never mentioned before. The prisoner Jacques character seems to morph into this other William at the very end as he is being welcomed in a field by a waving woman, referred to as "Lady". I re-played the scene three times on Amazon Prime and still don't get it. Is the idea that Jacques was an apparition or ghost all along and reverts at the end to an idealized version of the man he could have been, and is now being welcomed into a sylvan paradise (i.e. heaven) by his mother? That would be in sync with the contention of the returning lord and husband of Mathilda that he (the lord) personally murdered Jacques as a baby and (literally?) ate his heart. Either this is a lie or Jacques made an amazing recovery. Oh well I won't let it keep me up too many nights trying to figure it out. Maybe someone else reading this has a better idea of the significance of that last scene.

This should get more, but I can't go past 5/10. The basic structure of the movie is 'inspired' by more famous classics, notably Sergio Leone's 1.ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (remember how Charles Bronson's character is gradually introduced via short flashbacks, so in the end we learn he's come to exact revenge on Henry Fonda's character who had once killed his brother ). 2. PER QUALCHE DOLLARO IN PIU' (Lee Van Cleef's character hunts down Gian Maria Volontè's character...only in the end we learn he seeks revenge because his sister had been raped and murdered ). Remember how the link is a carillion watch the bad guy amuses himself with, which in the end we learn belonged to the departed sister?3. The mass rape as punishment for adultery also came in REVENGE with Anthony Quinn (and the old nobleman/husband IS portrayed as another "Tiburon" ).This movie basically mixes'n'matches the above plots...we get a necklace instead of a carillion watch, the flashback device and all the rest to a T with the notable exception of the medieval angle.Movies like French SECRET DEFENSE do a better job at being more cryptic. This one here aims higher than its class should allow. Historical reconstruction is good, scenes are also good, but the whole lacks something important...maybe because Leone's masterpieces sprung to my attention immediately.Of course you also get bits&pieces of NAME OF THE ROSE (=the enigma of the words on the corpses ) , MASK OF RED DEATH etc etc...again...give you the feeling of having seen all devices in an overall better product.The storyline is at times inconsequential...instead of feeling guilty for the punishment -however excessive- of a crime, people could have easily killed the 'mesmerizing stranger without a name'...but I realize that we'd have a ten minutes movie, then.Maybe the botched state of the movie explains why it was released 3 years after being produced, as some say.Won't watch it twice.

This is a great movie because you never know what's going to happen next.A dark thriller that keeps you guessing all the time. The thing that hooked me from the beginning wasn't just the mysterious plot but also the way the middle ages are presented; raw and dirty, the opposite of what a more conventional film or a Hollywood approach would have given us. I found myself a little lost at some points but I liked the abstract ending because it keeps you thinking after the film has ended. I'm not so sure about some of the gross or violent scenes but I guess they help to set the scene. I also found the orchestral score very melancholic and powerful.

Being an avid admirer of director Alberto Sciamma´s first film "Killer Tongue" I did not hesitate to watch his new movie while it was shown at the "Fantasy-Filmfest" Germany. I cannot say, I´m disappointed. But i did not turn out the way I expected it. Compared to his first movie, an extravaganza beyond compare, "Anazapta" looks too arty to capture my benevolent attention. There have been some great movies on the middle ages, like "Flesh and Blood", "Jabberwocky" or "Hour of the Pig". In all these movies the middle ages are so dirty, amoral and violent as you always thaught thy would have been. "Anazapta" makes no exception, and that´s the biggest failure. It does not show anything you haven´t seen before. The movie looks very tv-like. There is no spark. Compared to the in some aspects similar "Hour of the Pig" it´s a major disappointment. Although it´s twisted, you lose interest in getting to the final twist. Don´t misunderstand me. It´s not a bad movie. I have seen much, much worse. But my expectations were higher.