Clear whispers in the woods

Rating: 7/10 (5 December 2016)

This movie is based on what I'd like to consider a form of artistic Minimalism. I admit I found it very amusing to enjoy the remarkable results of a movie whose simple plot, reduced employment of CGI and vaguely sketched atmosphere combine so organically. The archaic language is, to my judgment, the only touch of artificial sophistication in a product of natural spontaneity and linearity. What's more simple than a family living humbly in the woods? Yet, it is not what it is nowadays considered "mainstream" : the traditional setting of countless childhood fairy tales here constitutes the basis of a perfect horror construction. The contrast between innocence and vice, which also emerged from my previous considerations, is also the central point of this movie, joined by the, also mentioned, illusory nature of the most simple things. Words, looks, basic gestures, animals, even young children are, to quote a famous Log Lady, "not what they seem". Furthermore, the Woods used for the setting are simply majestic. The trees are like bricks of a giant wall between the outside and the inside (even if the two dimensions melt in more than one occasion). I find this work to be a clear voice of hope in the darkness of the boring horror scenario which characterized these last few years. "The Witch" does not simply rely on clichÃ©s to survive in the competitive world of contemporary entertainment, but it neutralizes their dead components exploiting what is left of their creative energy to turn tradition into innovation.