(aka: FLAVIA THE HERETIC)
Finally Synapse releases the full, uncut version with the sex, torture and nudity intact. This is supposed to be the ultimate 'nuns in hell' movie, so it deserved a definitive version.
In the 15th Century, Flavia is sent to a convent by her evil father in order to cleanse her soul. She questions why the rules are the way they are and why men have to be in charge of everything. She also questions why nuns are routinely tortured for even the slightest of transgressions.
For instance, in a truly repellant scene, they dip cups of black tar on the stomach and breast of one nun and then cut her burned nipple off. Flavia can't stand any of this so she runs away with a local Jew who is an overseer of her father's dowry to the church. They are quickly caught and sent back to be punished. Flavia gets flogged with a whip while her Jewish companion is held in a dungeon with chains.
Then Flavia takes up with a Moslem commander after an attack on a coastal church, thereby guaranteeing her revenge on the convent. The Moslems rape and pillage the nuns, leaving all of them dead except for Flavia. She also stands by while the Moslems push her father down a hole leading into the torture chamber they used to routinely punished the nuns. The scene where the blond woman climbs into a cow's carcass is classic, although I think Pier Paolo Pasolini did something similar to that in one of his films. No?
In the end, her Moslem lover leaves her behind because she is disobedient, leaving her to her fate at the hands of the surviving Christians who torture her in an obscene manner. You the viewer will have to see it for yourself.
The film does have it's flaws, however. The pace is a little slow-going at times and the battle scenes between the Christians and the Moslems looks amateurish. The Synapse DVD has an interview with Florinda Bolkan concerning her views on feminism and the making of this film. She's aged quite a bit in the last 25 years, although I think she was already in her mid-30s when she made this film.
6 out of 10 for showing some originality in the nun genre.
Finally Synapse releases the full, uncut version with the sex, torture and nudity intact. This is supposed to be the ultimate 'nuns in hell' movie, so it deserved a definitive version.
In the 15th Century, Flavia is sent to a convent by her evil father in order to cleanse her soul. She questions why the rules are the way they are and why men have to be in charge of everything. She also questions why nuns are routinely tortured for even the slightest of transgressions.
For instance, in a truly repellant scene, they dip cups of black tar on the stomach and breast of one nun and then cut her burned nipple off. Flavia can't stand any of this so she runs away with a local Jew who is an overseer of her father's dowry to the church. They are quickly caught and sent back to be punished. Flavia gets flogged with a whip while her Jewish companion is held in a dungeon with chains.
Then Flavia takes up with a Moslem commander after an attack on a coastal church, thereby guaranteeing her revenge on the convent. The Moslems rape and pillage the nuns, leaving all of them dead except for Flavia. She also stands by while the Moslems push her father down a hole leading into the torture chamber they used to routinely punished the nuns. The scene where the blond woman climbs into a cow's carcass is classic, although I think Pier Paolo Pasolini did something similar to that in one of his films. No?
In the end, her Moslem lover leaves her behind because she is disobedient, leaving her to her fate at the hands of the surviving Christians who torture her in an obscene manner. You the viewer will have to see it for yourself.
The film does have it's flaws, however. The pace is a little slow-going at times and the battle scenes between the Christians and the Moslems looks amateurish. The Synapse DVD has an interview with Florinda Bolkan concerning her views on feminism and the making of this film. She's aged quite a bit in the last 25 years, although I think she was already in her mid-30s when she made this film.
6 out of 10 for showing some originality in the nun genre.