Maleficarum

Maleficarum is getting a lot of attention. This is a review that appeared online: "A pretty powerful and disturbing movie: Disturbing because the film doesn't really hold back in its many torture scenes, some of which are less than easy to stomach, but powerful because despite all the torture, the film manages to tell a rich story full of interesting characters, it manages to make the love between the two tortured girls who go through hell together rather than betraying one another, and the direction (successfully) aims for atmosphere rather than sleaze.

To put it shortly, a very nice, well-made film. Recommended – but for above reasons probably not for everybody." Mike Haberfelner (re)Search My Trash

Maleficarum (2011) by Jac Avila is a good screen play by an independent Bolivian film company. It is a good historical fiction loosely based on María Francisca Ana de Castro, a Spanish immigrant to Alta Peru, who was renowned for her beauty and wealth. She was arrested and accused of "judaizing". After many days of Torture before confessing; She was burned at the stake in 1726. This event was a major spectacle in Lima, but it raised questions about possible irregular procedures and about the corruption within the Inquisition, this lead to the end of The Holy Office (The Inquisition) in Peru. The director, Jac Avila, and actors try to recreated the actual realistic suffering in great detail of what the victims of the Spanish Inquisition had to endure. The best was the director's use of the actors' facial and body language, it was very cerebral and visual at the same time. This viewer marveled at the simplicity of that movie and how it got its complex message across, the script and the story plot was very well thought out. The dialogs of the accusers and witnesses did well in showing the bias and superstitions of that time.

These reviews are obviously being written by cast & crew, friends & family because this movie is absolute trash! Now I'm a fan of torture films as much as the next guy but there's really nothing going on here. It's just girls being whipped to death for practically 2 hours. I get it, this is a fetish for some guys, but to me it's a bit boring. Especially as badly as this story is told. And the talking head segments like it's a reality show is completely perplexing with a time period drama. Comes off quite comical actually. Which seems to be the exact opposite of what this film is going for. Yea this movie is extreme. But its also extremely boring and terribly acted. The only reason to watch this is the nudity, which is plentiful. But so much so it comes off boring as well. Nothing about this flows well, just boring badly scene after another. Don't waste your time with this!

A wealthy orphan (an adult, but whose parents have died and is as yet, unmarried - so, in that period, unprotected) befriends another woman who has lost her husband and is now a homeless widow. Their relationship has lesbian elements - which of course are "beyond the pale" in the era; additionally, the friend is "horror of horrors" - a Lutheran - in other words - a heretic! And the orphan is wealthy... The Inquisition steps in soon enough and when the two women prove 'uncooperative'- this film pulls no punches. The film shows both how the two women are slowly but surely broken in graphic detail and, showing interviews the inquisitors have with various witnesses, also how the common beliefs of the time justified it. The torture is shown historically accurately being done to the women's totally nude bodies...

Set in the 16th century, a young woman inherits a fortune after her parents die. In order to get their hands on her wealth, the Catholic Church imprison her and her wealthy female friend, accusing them of being witches. They refuse to confess.

Quite poor. Though it is has all the trappings of a B-grade exploitation movie, this movie had the potential to expose the horrors and hypocrisy of the Spanish Inquisition. However, it really doesn't go anywhere new.

Even the gratuitous stuff is badly done, with every scene drawn out to the point of tedium.

Some pretty laughable performances. A school play would contain better acting than many of what passed for it in this movie.

Poor and dull. Avoid.