Fictionalized documentary showing the evolution of witchcraft, from its pagan roots to its confusion with hysteria in Eastern Europe.

Storyline

Part history lesson followed by re-enactments with actors, this film depicts the history of witchcraft from its earliest days through to the present day (in this case,1922 or thereabouts). The result is a documentary-like film that must be among the first to use re-enactments as a visual and narrative tool. From pagan worship to satanic rites to hysteria, the film takes you on a journey through the ages with highly effective visual sequences.

Our Thoughts on Häxan (1922)

The writer and director Benjamin Christensen discloses a historical view of the witches through the seven parts of this silent movie.

In the beginning, there is a slide-show alternating intertitles with drawings and paintings to illustrate the explanations of the behavior of pagan cultures and in the Middle Ages regarding their vision of demons and witches.

Then there is a dramatization of the situation of the witches in the Middle Ages, with the witchcraft and the witch-hunts.

Finally Benjamin Christensen compares the behavior of hysteria of the modern women of 1921 with the behavior of the witches in the Middle Ages, concluding that they are very similar.

“Häxan” is incredibly perfect for a for a 1922 movie. Like in a thesis, he exposes his point of view based in his study of the theme along the time. The reconstitution of the witches in the Middle Ages is amazing. The last part with the comparison with the hysteric women is funny in 2010, but it was the reality in 1921. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): “Häxan – A Feitiçaria Através dos Tempos” (“Häxan – The Witchcraft Through the Time”)

5 out of 10 Stars

Trivia 

The Swedish film censors required numerous cuts in the film, before authorizing its release. Among the censored scenes were the closeup of the finger being removed from the hanged man’s hand, the trampling of the cross in the witch’s sabbath scene, the shot of the oozing infant held over a cooking pot, a closeup of a woman’s face while she is on a torture rack, closeups of several instruments of torture being employed, and a shot of a demon embracing a nude woman (all these shots have since been restored to the film).

Even though most scenes were filmed in interior studios, because Benjamin Christensen felt that the actors’ performances would be best influenced by a more dark and ominous atmosphere, most of the film was shot at night, almost unheard-of at the time.

Due to the type of emulsion of the film stock used, the blue in many of the actors’ blue eyes did not register, giving their eyes a glazed, unnatural appearance.

With an estimated budget of up to 2,000,000 Swedish kronas, at the time, this was the most expensive film produced in any Scandinavian country. That amount would have equaled roughly $525,000 in 1922, which equates to about $9.4M in 2022.

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