The Crucible (1996)

Wonderful character development!

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

I started watching the movie without even knowing that it was based on Arthur Miller's 1953 play, but it all seemed quite theatrical, in a good sense. Although Miller changed some facts in his play, all the people who are portrayed in it were real accusers, "witches", reverends and judges during the Salem Witch Trials... Sometimes I have to say that I found the direction was quite...boring in a way, but all in all it was a movie to remember. I really do wonder though why The Crucible is a movie that Daniel Day- Lewis and Winona Ryder is not remembered for since they both were captivating.

It's a message movie and it resonates. Willful belief in absurdities plagues the town of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1693. A handful of young girls, caught dancing in the woods, begin to claim they were possessed by the devil and they make accusations of witchcraft. It leads to more than twenty hangings and other deaths by execution.When Arthur Miller wrote the play in the early 50s, it was his way of speaking out against the communist witch hunts of his time. And indeed the trajectories of the movements bear similarities. It starts with someone craving attention, first blaming someone who is not only harmless but marginalized -- insane people, the senile, the very poor. Then it leads to overreach. The dozen hysterical girls of Salem begin to claim that spirits of a higher caliber have haunted them at night -- the spirit of the preacher's wife, for instance, which goes a little too far.Historically, Senator Joseph McCarthy began with real spies and real suspects but his claims grew more and more outrageous until he inspired the John Birch Society to consider President Eisenhower nothing more than "a communist dupe." And then McCarthy accused the US Army and General George Marshall of harboring communists. It was all a bit much for the less than insane among our own citizenry.Now, of course, we can all cluck out tongues at such fantasies -- while presidential candidates now running would build an unscalable wall across the Mexican border and hunger for a wall across the Canadian border as well. The president is a gypsy changeling from Africa. Our strongest leaders turn into carnival barkers and we cheer them. That's not to mention worms in McDonalds' hamburgers. I guess -- I hope -- the less insane among us will reintroduce us to reality some day.In any case, that's the end of my spiel. I will now stand down from the speaker's platform if someone will give me a hand. Thank you, but you don't have to be so eager.The acting and the milieu are finely done. Winona Ryder does very well as the lustful young traitor and she handles the stylized speech all right. It's only when she's excited that a bit of Wynona, Ohio, peeps through Abigail Williams.In 1693, these were all Brits, not Americans. So Paul Scofield can enter the movie as a judge who wants to be fair but is himself possessed by his interpretation of the Bible and his loyalty to what he perceives God to be. Those baggy eyes and that pebbled chin are just villainous enough.Joan Allen as an innocent victim is a fine actress but she doesn't have much to do except look made of stone. Make up has turned her face sere and gray. Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the better actors of his generation but he's stuck in the part of the audience proxy -- the man of principle, guilty only of having boned Winona Ryder in the barn, who sees through the fraudulence of the accusations, the trial, and the ensuing executions. He sees the foolishness. We can see it too, even if we can't see our own.There's a much less lavishly budgeted story of the witch trials around too, "Three Sovereigns For Sister Sarah," I think. It's well worth catching.

The Crucible is a popular text in British schools. Not only based on the real life incident of the Salem witch trials but also a political allegory to the McCarthy hearings in the US Congress in the early 1950s which inspired Arthur Miller to write the play.The movie has been adapted by Miller himself and the watchword is hysteria how like an ether it can easily be inflamed leading to blind panic with no morality. The film was released in 1996 yet just a few years earlier there was ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, clan fights in Somalia. Mass hysteria was alive and well and something Miller would had been well aware of. In that sense the film should be more than a historical product of witch trials in the 17th century and communist witch hunts in the 1950s but something that is relevant even today.The film begins with young girls conjuring love potions in the fields and then forced to tell lies that the they had been possessed by the devil when they had been caught by the local minister. They start dragging innocent people into the fold by accusing them of witchcraft, before long petty vendettas are being settled with accusations being hurled with ulterior motives.Once the inquisitors arrive, accusations are made simply to save themselves from hanging no matter other innocent people will hang instead unless they confess or accuse others.Winona Ryder leads the young women but she is also infatuated with a married farmer, John Proctor (Daniel Day-Lewis) with whom she had a short affair and now uses the events to get rid of his wife by accusing her of witchcraft.However the adaptation does not succeed because the mass hysteria by the girls also looks rather silly, more a badly acted play rather than a prestigious film adaptation. The film also loses its parable element as only late on do you get the inkling with the McCarthy hearings which inspired the play in the first place and is such an important part of the play's DNA.Day Lewis is fine, you see his authentic facial hair, some early scenes of working the land but there is the now trademark hamminess here and there which his fans mistake for great acting. Paul Scofield who once made his name in The Man for all Seasons plays the reverse role here as the hanging judge determined to cleanse this small Massachusetts town despite the consequences and in his solemn way gives an acting masterclass.

Written by Arthur Miller & based on his play of the same name, 'The Crucible' offers Great Performances by its terrific cast. While as a film, it engages in parts. 'The Crucible' Synopsis: A salem women accuses her ex lover's wife of witchcraft. 'The Crucible' is masterfully shot by Andrew Dunn & honestly Written by Miller. The Writing appeals in parts, although the slow-pace does hamper its overall impact. Nicholas Hytner's Direction is passable. 'The Crucible' is rich when it comes to performances. Joan Allen is fantastic, while Daniel Day-Lewis is persuasive. Winona Ryder is remarkably credible. Paul Scofield is effortless & classy. Bruce Davison is in brilliant form. Jeffrey Jones & Rob Campbell are fabulous. Peter Vaughan is highly competent. On the whole, 'The Crucible' has its share of pluses & minuses.