Black Death works as a voyeuristic, vicarious, and visceral experience. The film effectively shows how far a person is willing to go just to show loyalty to their own faith. The graphic violence in this film may be uncomfortable for some, but the film works as a voyeuristic and visceral experience to show the terrible things people do to each other in the name of religion. The actions of Eddie Redmayne's character are quite vicarious as the audience feels like they were living in the 14th century when the black death was spreading. The film effectively makes the viewer question whether these violent acts go to far or whether they were justified for the sake of faith. I felt that the film displays an unfavorable stance of the Christian faith as far as their views of killing one another as an act of justification, especially at the scene where the monk (Redmayne) is confronted by his girlfriend who may or may not have contracted the plague. While the film does manage to come off rather two-sided on its stance throughout the film, the final scene however shows that the viewer that the film is taking its one-sided view that these actions are not justifiable despite the events that occurred with the monk. A powerful, though-provoking, yet graphically violent film.
Review of Black Death
