The Reckoning (2003/I)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Paul McGuigan

Writers:

Barry Unsworth (novel)
Mark Mills (screenplay)

Release Date:

26 February 2004 (Hungary)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The truth shall come to light

Plot:

A priest on the lam takes up with a traveling band of actors, who then discover a murder has occurred and try to solve it by recreating the crime in a play.

Plot Keywords:

Medieval | Murder | Priest | 14th Century | Actor

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Paul Bettany	...	Nicholas
Marián Aguilera	...	Nicholas' Lover
Trevor Steedman	...	Jealous Husband
Simon McBurney	...	Stephen
Tom Hardy	...	Straw
Brian Cox	...	Tobias
Willem Dafoe	...	Martin
Gina McKee	...	Sarah
Stuart Wells	...	Springer (as George Wells)
Vincent Cassel	...	Lord De Guise
Elvira Mínguez	...	Martha
Richard Durden	...	Town Justice
Ewen Bremner	...	Simon Damian
Mark Benton	...	Sheriff
Hamish McColl	...	Innkeeper

Also Known As:

Misterio de Wells, El (Spain)
Morality Play

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexuality and violent images.

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

UK | Spain

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Germany:12 | South Korea:15 | Finland:K-15 | UK:15 | USA:R | Australia:M | Canada:14A

Filming Locations:

Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Company:

Kanzaman S.A.

Trivia:

.

Goofs:

Continuity: Brother Simon Damien is shown holding a pen in his right hand, but the position of the quill in the scenes where it is writing indicate a right-handed grip.

Quotes:

Lord De Guise: You want to know why... I did what I did? Because I wanted to... and because... I could.

Gloomy but beautiful to watch

I read the book first (Morality Play by W. Unsworth, very charming, with sophisticated plot about almost philosophical issues of truth and its interpretations) and then I found out there was a movie made according to it and allready re-run several times on the czech version of HBO TV channel.

I watched The Reckoning only few weeks ago and I think it is a very beautiful movie. Not that moving as it might have been, but beautiful to watch. Well, after a little dissappointment /movie's major issue and its somewhat morbid ending are VERY different from the book/. But only because I was expecting something.

The Reckoning catches - best of all "medieval" films I have seen - the atmosphere of medieval society, which seem so very oppressive to us, with its fears and firmly given orders and the necessity to belong somewhere, be a member of a defined group - or not to be. This is gloomy. The plot is not made exactly as a thriller - not much surprising. Its major point is, I gues, to make viewers feel, as if they were inside the story, could touch the real people. And the characters feel as real people, reserved towards strangers and not pretending warmth, when not feeling it.

It is played wonderfully. Bettany is amazing as melancholic hero-anti-hero, who sruggles with his fears and overcomes it, Dafoe is real master actor with slight tendencies to manipate the others, realistic but brave enough to join the desperate outcast and do something good and almost suicidal, Cox is down-to-earth old man, McKee is silent medieval woman with no voice within the group.And the major villain Cassel is a charismatic dictator-nihilist, who enjoys cat-mouse plays. See it while you can :-).