Mark of the Devil

The beautiful Tyrolean landscape underscored with kitschy romantic music, with sadistic scenes of inhuman torture of innocent people by a handful of “chosen ones” referred to as sorcerers (these include, for example, the good father of the family, who entertains his children with puppet shows). Mark of the Devil is a nicely shot film with top-tier production values that attempts to justify its gratuitous and ubiquitous sadism with social criticism of the “politics” of the time. What makes it uncomfortable and disturbing is the very realistic dimension by which the filmmakers achieve their aim. Even so, the movie is long, boring in places and, mainly, badly edited, resulting in an imbalance between the characters and occasional blunders in a dramatic work that otherwise surprisingly knows where it’s going. Very good casting – some of the faces will remain in your memory as much as the male delegation from Pasolini’s Saló. Two and a half stars. (03/09/2005)