The Witchhammer

This striking portrait of the cruel and merciless mechanisms of uncontrolled power has a timeless significance. Based on a novel of the same title and using historical records as a source, the film re-enacts one of the many trials of alleged witches at the Velké Losiny estate during the period 1678-95. Innocent and harmless people were threatened and intimidated and brought to "voluntary" confession through cruel torture only to be burnt alive at the stake. During Holy Communion, the beggar Maryna Schuchová hides the host in a scarf. She confesses to the parish priest that she wanted to give it to the midwife for her sick cow. The young and eager cleric declares her a witch and persuades the Countess de Galle of Šumperk to send for Boblig, an inquisitor from Edelstadt. The failed lawyer considers the invitation a new opportunity …