Monday, December 12, 2011

Dark Discussions #34 Christopher Smith Focus: 2010's Black Death

Episode 034 - Christopher Smith Focus: 2010's Black Death

A film based on one of the worst pandemics in the history of mankind can’t be a good and enjoyable watch, can it? When the Black Plague (also known as the Black Death) swept across Europe in the 1300’s, anywhere between 30 to 60% of the population of the continent died. No matter your age, no matter your gender, no matter your heritage or nation, if you were exposed to the disease and contracted it, you were already dead. Approximately 23% of the entire world’s population died during this time or 1 in every 5 people.
The disease which was actually the bubonic plague was spread by fleas from rats who would then find a new host upon people. And the disease would spread as quick as if we were talking a zombie outbreak. Since folks had no idea how a tiny common flea was behind the spread, it was determined by the superstitious that Satan or God and His wrath had come to punish humanity. Director Christopher Smith takes a screenplay about the disease and brings us a story on how faith can be followed inaccurately. And yet, his movie entitled Black Death is so much more. It’s a story of human corruption where brilliant folks whether religious, pagan, or atheistic work the fears of the common person into a power base for their own nefarious wickedness.
Dark Discussions wraps up their Christopher Smith film focus with 2010’s Black Death, a tale that tricks its viewers into thinking it to be just another anti-religious film when in fact it is a story of the demagoguery of the individual, the faith of the uninformed, the dissocial personality disorder of the sociopath, and the insanity of vengeance which one would see in a Korean revenge film. Don’t expect a happy ending to a story filled with nihilism, but do expect a fantastic film that will make one think deeply for days after the viewer has watched the credits. 

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