Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages

Häxan Blu-ray Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov, October 20, 2019



The witch

What Danish filmmaker Benjamin Christensen did within the early 1920s isn't any different than what various directors did for The History Channel's TV series. Christensen chose a different subject matter but the basic concept behind his film is the same -- an arty blend of fact and fiction, which is every bit as illuminating as it is entertaining and by default deceiving. Christensen even broke his film into multiple parts, so its structure reminds of the popular TV series as well.Each of the seven parts is dedicated to the evolution of witchcraft through the ages, though what Christensen is focused on is something entirely different. Indeed, it is actually the manner in which people modified the 'rational' and then placed it in different myths and theories to explain witchcraft. (This is precisely what the various seasons ofdo as well -- they promote a wide range of scientific speculations to explain our history and placement in the universe). So, after each part the 'rational' is redefined and used in a new context to illustrate and examine human progress.Profilingstrictly as a documentary, however, would be wrong. One reason why is the fact that Christensen gives the multiple parts unique identities and then infuses some with light humor that provide his film with an auteurish quality. For example, in the second part a group of cemetery robbers steal some rotting corpses and deliver various body parts to an elderly witch who has to prepare her famous magic love potion, but she complains that the they are too old and then warns her customers that her specialty may not turn out as it should. When the Devil steps in front of the camera Christensen often makes him look as a cheeky countryside bachelor as well.Plenty of the production values strengthen the film's auteurish quality as well. For example, many sequences are staged with a great awareness of the effectiveness of light and shadow, plus the positioning of the camera routinely makes it obvious that Christensen was in fact looking to enhance the drama. While certainly not unusual for a silent film, this particular type of craftsmanship was most certainly not common in early silent films that are considered documentaries.The valuable technical material that could appear in a legit documentary about witchcraft comes towards the end, after the Church has started identifying the witches and performing various rituals to make them renounce the Devil. Christensen shows numerous torture devices that were used to produce the confessions that proved the existence of the Devil  and by default justified the existence of the Church -- and in the process highlights the erosion of the 'rational' during the period. Virtually all of the footage that various international distributors censored before they began screening the film in their local markets came from this material.The new 2K restoration that was used to source this release presents the film fully uncut. Also, the film can be viewed with an orchestral score by film music specialist Gillian Anderson, who apparently attempted to recreated the music that was played during its Danish premiere at the Palads Teatret theater on November 7, 1922. Anderson conducted and recorded her score with the Czech Film Orchestra in Prague in June 2001.