Sword of God (2018)

Original title

Krew Boga

Directed by

Bartosz Konopka

Genre

fantasy film, adventure film, historical film

Country

Poland, Belgium

Runtime

1h 44m

Rated

16

Rating

4.0 of 10 from 26 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A Christian bishop survives a shipwreck and washes ashore on an island where he finds a tribal society with its own religion. He challenges their shaman to a trial by fire to gain permission to build a church, while his companion sews his own mouth shut in silent protest.

slow-burntensebleakatmosphericbroodingmeditativeclaustrophobicsparsecontemplative

What happens

Sword of God (also called The Mute) is a 2018 Polish film directed by Bartosz Konopka. Cinematography was done by Jacek Podgorski. The movie tells the story of a bishop named Willibrord (Krzysztof Pieczyński) who is the only survivor of a party that evidently came to Christianize a population. He arrives by boat on an unnamed island where he is found, and nursed back to health, by another survivor of an earlier group, played by Karol Bernacki. They encounter a tribal society belonging to a different religion; Willibrord challenges their shaman to a "trial by fire" (walking across a bed of coals), which Willibrord survives, but the local priest does not. Willibrord is given permission by the chief to build a church, but may not enter the village. His partner, who doubts his intentions, sews his own mouth shut; some in the village see a prophet in him. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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