This film masterly deals with a very specific moment in the history of Western Christianity. It's not just the Medieval Ages .. since, in a generally accepted timetable, it started circa 450 AD and lasted 'til the rise of the Absolute Monarchies ... it depicts a moment of transition. The already settled upsurging process in which feudal cities would develop as independent political entities under the rule of a central monarchy ... a moment in which France's bourgeoisie starts to position itself as a major political and economical partner/supporter of a highly centralized monarchy in opposition to the decentralized political organization championed by feudal lords. A struggle which would, eventually in future times, determine how law and order should be imposed to society and the consequential encroachment of a national state. So, this film's story happens in the waning of French feudalism as a source of political and economical power. You must never forget that what is shown in this film as the feudal lord's privileges were once, in a then very recent past, the rule ... the French Revolution is still centuries away ... and not a trace yet of the Thirteen Colonies ... but now, that's all history.
Yeah ... yeah, it's a fiction alright ... a fiction loosely based on real legal reports of the Middle Age ... so yes, the things you'll see not just could have happened ... but eventually, and quite oftenly I should add, did actually happen very much in the same fashion exposed in this great film. By now you must be asking yourself ... why in the world is this guy beating around the bush for ?! ... and in my usual high style manner I would answer: Simply because without the previous historical pinpointing you would miss all the possible readings this film has to offer and the much needed gap filling. ... Furthermore, in case you're; yes you my dear reader, a High School student, don't even try to argue or use the info contained in this review in a school debate or essay ... firstly, it might be too specific for the common knowledge of most High School teachers ... and secondly, you obviously lack a yielding background knowledge to support it.
Most reviewers, including high ranking pros, missed the point completely as to what concerns this film ... one of them pros took it has a comedy and simply compared it to Mounty Python And The Holy Grail ... oh c'mon, how unreal can you get ?!!! The Hour Of The Pig does have some 'laughable moments' ... so does Reservoir Dogs ... but most of such moments will be laughed at based on our 21st Century understanding of reality and common sense. In spite the 'laughable moments', it's not a comedy ... it's a thriller. Some other reviewers, pros included, preferred comparing it to The Name Of The Rose. Such comparison is pure fallacy in all senses. I've seen the film and I've read the book ... the great result of erudite and throughout historical research, most specifically as to what concerns past and then still ongoing theological debates and disputes. Jean-Jacques Annaud somehow managed to destroy Umberto Eco's story and turned it into an overrated and underscored whodunit. The Hour Of The Pig is more of a what-the-heck-is-happening-here kind of thriller story ... and as the film unfolds, you'll be shown a very detailed and carefully crafted epoch re-enactment of everyday life in those times.
Basically the plot spirals around the ongoing dispute for the exercise of power (fiefdom versus highly centralized monarchies) staged in the trial of a domestic animal ... ultimately, a struggle for the upper hand in controlling the means, resources and legitimacy to impose fear upon society in general. 'It is the curse of our times ... gentlemen ... not the black death ... but fear ' says Pincheon as if previewing Thomas Hobbes by quite a few years. The Renaissance has been going on for more than a century already. The world was changing but not changed yet ... and such clash would still go on for centuries ahead. Leslie Megahey's competent approach as a director and scriptwriter has acquired for this film a stand alone feature. It's not a hamburger, take it with savoir vivre.
