A witchcraft Middle Ages movie, set in a village in Portucalence Land, in the end of the X century. Based upon a tale by Alexandre Herculano A Dama Pé de Cabra (The Lady with the Goat Feet) who, in his turn, was inspired by an old legend told in the Beira Alta region, in Portugal. One of the few Portuguese entries to the fantastic genre, it's the only Portuguese medieval/fantastic movie that I know of. A witch, Maria Alva, takes over a village, but has an opponent in the wise Hélio, who, with some help, will try to defeat her. The movie has a good sense of that whole Middle Age mood, probably due in part to the good photography by José Luís Carvalhosa. The director set some really nifty, moody scenes. Some of them you look at and go: Oh. That's cool. The sets are quite natural, but I guest that would be the easy part, with Portugal having so many real medieval castles still standing and a fair amount of practice in staging medieval fairs. The two main girls are pretty cute and i liked that scene at the end with one of them dressed like a knight with an arrow, at the top of the mount. Also, here and there, some good dialog emerges. It's, I think, mostly a curiosity, for medieval/horror completest and for those who didn't thought they made such movies in Portugal (like me). António de Macedo in only one of the very few Portuguese directors (alongside Edgar Pera) that delves into the fantasy/horror genres. And, unfortunately, he hasn't made a movie in more than ten years. It's basically an interesting movie, nice to watch, curdled up in the sofa at night, while it's freezing cold outside. At least that's how I did it. And I enjoyed it a lot.
I rate it: 6.5 in 10.
P.S: It's funny how Army of Darkness(1993) is in the IMDb Recommendations ...
I rate it: 6.5 in 10.
P.S: It's funny how Army of Darkness(1993) is in the IMDb Recommendations ...
