Pilgrimage

As far as period pieces set in the middle ages go, this one isn't very glamorous. It's a decently well made film with some strong individual performances that basically carry a mostly disjointed and only slightly nuanced story. My rating for this movie is a fairly weak 7/10. That rating is floated higher than I would have normally given it for three specific reasons.

First, the performances: Holland as the young, pious monk who has never known anything but life in the monastery yet quickly matures when faced with adversity. Bernthal as the obedient and entirely subservient mute with an obviously profound yet mysterious history who becomes the star of the show on more than one occasion without saying a word. Stanley Weber as the Cistercian, the guy the Church sends out to do their dirty work basically and effectively starts the "Pilgrimage" in the first place. Of course, there's also Richard Armitage as the surly French knight commanding his Baron father's equally surly men while throwing surly looks around all the time. This would have been a horribly dull and hard to watch movie if these guys didn't pull off these fairly typical medieval character archetypes well and it feels to me like they did.

Second, the action and set sequences were well done. I tend to be the kind of person who is immediately thrown off by a bad transition or a sequence of shots that just don't really work well together. I didn't see very much of that in this film. Granted, it's not difficult managing scene transition when most every scene is shot outdoors in Ireland but when the action happens, it's brutal and effective.

Third, symbolism. If you are someone who does not like it when a movie expects you to draw your own significance from the story it's trying to tell, this is not a movie you might like. Religion is a central theme in this movie and it is built on a foundation of symbolism that can be taken any number of different ways. If you like diving into the deeper meaning of things, you will actually love this movie. Especially how it ends.

A grim and atmospheric film set in 'Dark ages' with noisy action, pursuits, fights and lots of violence. In Middle Age one young monk along with other reckless pals will take on an impressive pilgrimage and will fight against evil. Ireland, 1209. Far from the chaos of the Crusades, a small, quiet group of Catholic monks protect an ancient and powerful relic. However, the object must travel to Rome, as it is required by papal authority, and must be escorted by its protectors, to help the Church in its fight against the infidels. Escorting their monastery's holiest relic to Rome, the monks' progress is seen through the eyes of a pious young novice (Tom Holland), a mute lay-brother (Jon Brenthal) with a violent past and other peculiar priests (Hugh O'Conor, John Lynch, Stanley Weber), all of them go throughout a landscape fraught with peril. This pilgrimage will not be easy, because along the way they will encounter Norman invaders, bloody native tribes and all kinds of unimaginable dangers.

This breathtaking picture packs great loads of action, mystery , twists and turns, overwhelming combats and a little bit of gore and blood. Including stunning battles scenes illuminating the full-blown adventure with a plethora of engaging action set pieces on the thrilling fights. This Middle Age adventure movie deals with a reluctant pilgrimage across an island torn between centuries of tribal warfare and the growing power of Norman invaders, being exceptionally and colorfully cinematographed on location, mostly in Ireland. Beginning with a real sense of wonder including some flashbacks regarding the origin of the holy relic and following with chases, treason, ravage and winding up with continuous struggles and a surprising final. This thought-provoking story deals with God , Devil , Catholic Church and several other 'Age of Darkness' issues. The monks belatedly realize that in this wild land of ancient superstitions, the faith that binds them together may ultimately lead to their destruction. Showing the everlasting and vital value of relics in the time of the Middle Ages, in this case the stone that killed the apostle Saint Matthias while he was apostolate Christian followers in Cappadocia. As the true material, political and religious significance of the bejeweled relic becomes dangerously apparent, their path to the east coast becomes increasingly fraught with danger.

Beautiful scenery, tense and bloody fights and a stirring climax lift this story. This above average and well-directed movie stars Tom Holland (the same year he led his first film for the Marvel Universe: 'Spiderman: Homecoming') who plays a very young monk who will soon discover the savagery that hides behind religious fervour, along with Jon Brenthal, who's pretty good giving life to a silent and mysterious assistant to the monks and he is more than he seems. Completing the cast are: Richard Armitage, John Lynch, Stanley Weber and Hugh O'Connor. The film was nominated for best photography and best costumes at the Irish film and television awards.

Being competently photographed by cameraman Tom Comerford on various locations in Connemara, County Galway, Clonbur, County Galway, County Mayo, Ireland, Roscommon, Ireland, Ardennes, Wallonia, Belgium and Greece. The camera work by Comerford in this film is moving and thrilling. Furthermore, musical score by composer Stephen McKeon is sensitive and spectacular. The motion picture was professionally directed by Brendan Muldowney , though with no originality because we have already seen the pursuit premise of the film in other similar stories. Brendan is an expert filmmaker of all kinds of genres with penchant for horror; known for The Ten Steps (2004), Savage (2009) , Love Eternal (2013), Pilgrimage (2017), The Cellar (2022) , among others . Rating : 7/10. A notable and decent historical film. The picture will appeal to Tom Holland fans. There's something for everyone here ; fans of history , fans of action, fans of medieval adventure should all find something to enjoy about this film. It may not be the best film ever made, but its still one attractive movie.

In the early 13th century a group of monks are tasked to transport an ancient holy relic from their remote monastery in Ireland to Rome. They have organised assistance along the way in the form of some French soldiers but events do not pan out in a straightforward way.

This Irish adventure-drama is one which manages to capture its period feel while retaining a contemporary edge. The problem with these types of movies is often the characters spout dialogue which is overly dramatic and false feeling, like a bunch of modern actors pretending to be from medieval times. In this case, it didn't feel like this so much, with performances being universally convincing and understated enough to feel considerably more authentic than is usual. The choice of using different languages of the day assisted in this, with Gaelic, French and English (the latter of which being used as a substitute for Latin, which the film-makers decided could not be spoken naturally nowadays so an artistic compromise was to substitute that for English). The gloomy Irish landscape was very evocative and atmospheric and captured very well cinematically, and like other adventure-dramas like the Amazon films of Werner Herzog, the landscape is to all intents and purposes another character too, given its visual potency. There is an excellent low-key atmospheric score underpinning the imagery and events which serves the tension and drama very well also. The story itself is very minimalistic and straightforward with a quest narrative that actively allows for a variety of different events to unfold, which includes a couple of dynamic action scenes – a brutal and intense ambush in a forest and a finale on a beach. The story is clever enough to allow for a religious interpretation while offering up rationale explanations for all events too. In this way, it has a modern feel to it while playing off the mysteries inherent in the religious side of things. Overall, I found this to be a very compelling bit of work, with a great atmospheric setting and interesting characters. And because it is an Irish production, it does have a more authentically Celtic feel to it, which served the material well.

Yes this film is bloody. For some the scenes might even be shocking, but I really enjoyed this film. Acting was good, the suspense build up was very good. And at no point did it seem the violence was unnecessary. If you enjoy historical type films and don't mind seeing a head bashed in close up, you will enjoy this.

PILGRIMAGE (2017)

This is the new film from the Irish director of the excellent 2009 flick called SAVAGE about an assault on a news reporter in Dublin (and it's aftermath) and I gotta say, if Werner Herzog had made this film rather than one about an Amazonian trek he wudda been quite happy.

The film is set in the early 1200s in Ireland where superstition and the struggle for Christian domination of the country are rife and there, an envoy from Rome is sent to collect a supposedly sacred relic from some rural monks and bring it back to the holy city.

The movie is grim, and conveys the horrible conditions people existed/lived in back then perfectly (the bloody weather looks the same as Ireland has now though haha). It's highly atmospheric, with bleak Irish landscapes, and the acting is top notch with the film basically being a dangerous road trip carrying the relic to a ship that's waiting for them in Waterford (to sail across to France and onward to Rome).

The fact that the film is recorded in Irish, French, and English adds a brilliant realism to proceedings which echoes the situation at the time with Ireland being infringed upon from all sides, and along the way things get very messy and bloody (one death is particularly gruesome).

I'm sure there wasn't a huge Hollywood budget for PILGRIMAGE but they've kept things really concentrated and its certainly exceeds what you might expect to be straight to video cheese.

This is the third film I've seen by Brendan Muldowney and I think the guy has some talent. I will be looking out for his next film and if you haven't already caught SAVAGE Id check that out too.