Monday, November 21, 2016

Black Death

Haensch S, Bianucci R, Signoli M, Rajerison M, Schultz M, Kacki S, Vermunt M, Weston DA, Hurst D, Achtman M, Carniel E, Bramanti B (2010). Besansky, Nora J, ed. "Distinct clones of Yersinia pestis caused the black death". PLoS Pathog. 6 (10): e1001134.doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1001134. PMC 2951374Freely accessible.PMID 20949072Bos KI, Schuenemann VJ, Golding GB, Burbano HA, Waglechner N, Coombes BK, McPhee JB, DeWitte SN, Meyer M, Schmedes S, Wood J, Earn DJ, Herring DA, Bauer P, Poinar HN, Krause J (12 October 2011). "A draft genome of Yersinia pestis from victims of the Black Death". Nature. 478 (7370): 506–10.doi:10.1038/nature10549. PMC 3690193Freely accessible.PMID 21993626.The Black Death is thought to have originated in the arid plains ofCentral Asia, where it then travelled along the Silk Road, reachingCrimea by 1343.[6] From there, it was most likely carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were regular passengers on merchant ships. Spreading throughout the Mediterranean and Europe, the Black Death is estimated to have killed 30–60% of Europe's total population.[7] In total, the plague may have reduced the world population from an estimated 450 million down to 350–375 million in the 14th century.[8] The world population as a whole did not recover to pre-plague levels until the 17th century.[9] The plague recurred occasionally in Europe until the 19th century.The 12th-century French physician Gilles de Corbeil's On the Signs and Symptoms of Diseases (Latin: De signis et sinthomatibus egritudinum) uses the phrase "black death" (atra mors) to refer to a pestilential fever (febris pestilentialis).[10]
Writers contemporary with the plague referred to the event as the "Great Mortality"[11] or the"Great Plague".[12][clarification needed]The phrase "black death" (mors nigra) was used in 1350 by Simon de Covino or Couvin, a Belgian astronomer, who wrote the poem "On the Judgment of the Sun at a Feast of Saturn" (De judicio Solis in convivio Saturni), which attributes the plague to a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.[13] 
  • On page 22 of the manuscript inGallica, Simon mentions the phrase "mors nigra" (Black Death): "Cum rex finisset oracula judiciorum / Mors nigra surrexit, et gentes reddidit illi;" (When the king ended the oracles of judgment / Black Death arose, and the nations surrendered to him;).
  • A more legible copy of the poem appears in: Emile Littré (1841)"Opuscule relatif à la peste de 1348, composé par un contemporain" (Work concerning the plague of 1348, composed by a contemporary),Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes, 2 (2) : 201–243; see especially page 228.
  • See also: Joseph Patrick Byrne,The Black Death (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2004), page 1.
In 1908, Gasquet claimed that use of the name atra mors for the 14th-century epidemic first appeared in a 1631 book on Danish history by J.I. Pontanus: "Commonly and from its effects, they called it the black death" (Vulgo & ab effectu atram mortem vocatibant).[14] The name spread through Scandinavia and then Germany, gradually becoming attached to the mid 14th-century epidemic as a proper name.[15] In England, it was not until 1823, that the medieval epidemic was first called the Black Death.[16]Kohn, George C. (2008). Encyclopedia of plague and pestilence: from ancient times to the present. Infobase Publishing. p. 31. ISBN 0-8160-6935-2.The plague disease, caused by Yersinia pestis, is enzootic (commonly present) in populations of fleas carried by groundrodents, including marmots, in various areas including Central Asia, Kurdistan, Western Asia, Northern India and Uganda.[17]Nestorian graves dating to 1338–1339 near Lake Issyk Kul in Kyrgyzstan have inscriptions referring to plague and are thought by many epidemiologists to mark the outbreak of the epidemic, from which it could easily have spread to China and India.[18] In October 2010, medical geneticists suggested that all three of the great waves of the plague originated in China.[19] In China, the 13th century Mongol conquest caused a decline in farming and trading. However, economic recovery had been observed at the beginning of the 14th century. In the 1330s, a large number of natural disasters and plagues led to widespread famine, starting in 1331, with a deadly plague arriving soon after.[20] Epidemics that may have included plague killed an estimated 25 million Chinese and other Asians during the 15 years before it reached Constantinople in 1347.[21][22]
The disease may have travelled along the Silk Road with Mongol armies and traders or it could have come via ship.[23] By the end of 1346, reports of plague had reached the seaports of Europe: "India was depopulated, Tartary, Mesopotamia, Syria, Armenia were covered with dead bodies".[24]

The film takes place in 1348 in plague-ridden medieval England. Osmund (Redmayne), a young monk, has been separated from other people in order to see whether he shows any symptoms of having the plague. After he is released, he sneaks away to meet with a woman, Averill, whom he loves despite his vows of chastity to God as a result of being a monk. Osmund tells Averill the plague has reached the monastery and she must leave to escape the disease. Though Averill asks him to run away with her, he wants to stay at the monastery. She promises to wait for him for one week at a meeting place in the forest in case he changes his mind. Osmund prays to God asking for guidance on whether he can serve God outside of the monastery in order to join his lover Averill. 


At that moment knight Ulric (Bean) arrives with orders from the Bishop to take a monk as a guide on a quest into the forest. Osmund decides this is a sign from God and volunteers to go. After leaving, Osmund learns that Ulric and his group of mercenaries are tasked with finding a remote marshland village which has remained untouched by the Black Death. The town is said to sacrifice people in order to remain free of the plague, and they are rumored to be led by a necromancer who is able to bring the dead back to life. Their mission is to capture the necromancer, put a stop to the town's sacrifices, and bring the necromancer back to the Bishop. Osmund is supposed to guide them to the village because he has knowledge of the surrounding forest and marsh from his childhood.

8/10
On the way to the village, Osmund leaves the group while they are sleeping one morning in an attempt to meet with Averill at their meeting spot. Osmund finds Averill's horse and her torn blood-stained clothing in their meeting spot. He also sees a group of bandits and thieves nearby in the forest and runs back to Ulric and the mercenaries. The bandits from the forest attack Ulric, Osmund, and the mercenaries. Though the bandits are defeated, one member of the mercenary group is killed and Osmund is stabbed (not fatally, but badly). Eventually, Ulric and his group find the village they seek beyond the forest and marsh. The village is an eerie disease-free utopia led by a beautiful woman, Langiva (van Houten).[6] Ulric's group initially claims to be seeking shelter (hiding their true purpose) because they are unsure who the necromancer in the village is and want to draw the necromancer out with deceit. Ulric does not trust the villagers. Ulric tells Osmund that an earlier group of four men had been sent by the church to find the village as well, none of the four men had returned, and Ulric found one of the group's church-medallions being worn by a villager who claimed to have found it in the marsh Langiva treats Osmund's wound from the bandit attack and then leads Osmund to the body of Averill. Langiva claims that she had found Averill injured in the woods, and that Averill had spoken about Osmund just before her death. While treating Osmund's wounds Langiva reveals that her husband had been killed by "men of God". That night the town has a feast welcoming their guests. As everyone eats Langiva leads Osmund into the forest where many women are performing a ritual over the buried body of Averill. During this ritual Langiva appears to resurrect the dead body of Averill, and Osmund runs away upon seeing this. Osmund runs into the crucified corpses of the four men who had previously been sent by the church, and he is taken prisoner by the town. At the feast, Ulric and his mercenaries are drugged and then taken prisoner by the town. They all awake the next day tied in a pit of waterLangiva and the villagers tell the prisoners they know the men had come to the village to do them harm, and they had found Ulric's torture machine which he had brought and hidden in the forest for the purpose of capturing and transporting the necromancer to the Bishop. They offer the men a choice of death or to renounce God and be allowed to leave the village. The first mercenary refuses to renounce God, he is crucified, and his stomach is split open. A second mercenary agrees to renounce God and is led away by the villagers while being told he will be freed at the edge of the village in the forest; in reality, once outside of the village they hang him by his neck from a tree until he is dead. Langiva then takes Osmund from the pit and says that she has brought Averill back to life, she says Osmund must renounce God, but then he will be allowed to live in the village with Averill for the rest of his life. She points him towards a hut where Averill is located. Osmund walks into the hut alone and finds Averill alive, but seeming to be possessed. She is drooling, she can not focus her eyes at all, she does not speak except gibberish, she does not react to or recognize his presence, and she is holding a knife which she stabs into a wooden table and into a wall. She even briefly seems to half-hardheartedly (though not vigorously) try to attack Osmund when he touches her. Osmund believes Averill is a zombie or possessed, or that her soul is trapped in purgatory, and he kills Averill in order to free her soul from purgatory and from the witch's spell so that Averill's soul may ascend to heaven. He carries Averill's dead body to the villagers, and Langiva says that the Christians are so cruel that they kill the ones they love. Osmund slashes at Langiva's face. The villagers stop Osmund and beat him bloody and near unconsciousness. During the beating, Osmund drops his knife next to the remaining prisoners. The villagers then take Ulric from the pit and tie his arms and legs to ropes attached to two horses pulling in opposite directions. Langiva attempts to make Ulric renounce God. Ulric calls for Osmund (who is permitted to approach), and Ulric orders Osmond to remove his shirt. When Osmund removes Ulric's shirt it is seen Ulric is infected with the plague and that he has thereby brought the plague into the uninfected village. The villagers then whip the horses so that they pull Ulric's body apart limb from limb.At that moment the remaining two prisoners/mercenaries grab the knife Osmund had dropped earlier and free themselves. The two mercenaries are battle-tested and manage to kill all of the untrained villagers that oppose them, though one of the two mercenaries dies in the battle. The last remaining mercenary takes the village's second-in-command male as prisoner to be presented to the Bishop as the necromancer the group had been sent to find. During the final battle, Osmund chases Langiva into the marsh in an attempt to kill her. In the marsh, Osmund loses Langiva in the mist and fog, though they shout to each other through the fog. Langiva reveals that she is not a witch at all but simply a herbalist who is skilled with plants and drugs. She says that Averill had never been dead at all, Langiva had drugged Averill, and that Osmund killed her himself for the one and only time. Osmund asks why they had buried Averill if she had not really been dead, and Langiva says that it is because "people need miracles" and people worship the one who provides the miracles. Langiva had used drugs and fake ceremonies to make herself appear powerful in order to gain leadership over the village. She also did this to sway the villagers away from Christianity which Langiva believes is evil because it leads men to commit terrible acts in the name of God and religion. Osmund collapses from grief and shouts at Langiva to bring Averill back (seeming as if he does not believe or is unwilling to believe that Langiva has no powers). Langiva says that she can't bring Averill back and that Osmund should pray to his God for help. Langiva disappears into the mist and escapes. Osmund and the last surviving mercenary return to the monastery with the male "necromancer" villager in tow as their cargo.
In the final scenes, the last surviving mercenary acts as a narrator. He says the village had been untouched by the plague because it had been remote and far removed from other towns (and not because of the "witch's protection"). However, after the mercenaries brought the plague with them, the surviving people in the remote village and forest also fell victim to the plague. Finally he says that in the years that followed he heard stories that Osmund had lost his heart, had grown cruel, and took up the sword in God's name. Osmund was torn between the possibilities that he had killed his drugged lover Averill who had never been dead at all, versus the belief that she was a demon-possessed corpse resurrected by the witch Langiva, and at least in his behaviour, it appears he ultimately sides with the latter supernatural explanation. An older church-empowered Osmund sets out with soldiers to hunt and kill Langiva and other witches throughout England. The audience is shown scenes where Osmund appears to falsely mistake other women for Langiva, as well as falsely accuse many other women of witchcraft, all of whom are ultimately tortured and executed in the name of God.
4 August 2010

References[edit]

  1. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Klein, James (24 February 2011). "Christopher Smith, Interview with the Director of Black Death".UnRated Film Magazine. Archived from the original on 19 January 2012. Retrieved 2013-06-09.
  2. Jump up^ "BLACK DEATH (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 8 February 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  3. Jump up^ "Black Death (2011) - International Box Office Results".Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved1 March 2015.
  4. ^ Jump up to:a b c Felperin, Leslie (2010-02-22). "Berlin – Black DeathReview". Variety. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
  5. Jump up^ 'Nix' (2010-01-06). "Finally Some Decent Looks at Chris Smith's Black Death". Beyond Hollywood. Retrieved2010-04-03.
  6. Jump up^ Bilson, Anne (2010-03-11). "Culture: The Return of Religious Films". The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-04-04.
  7. Jump up^ "Black Death press release". Magnet Pictures. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  8. ^ Jump up to:a b c Kemp, Stuart (2008-02-02). "Three Join Battle in Sax's "Death"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved2010-04-04.[dead link]
  9. Jump up^ Rotten, Ryan (2008-11-28). "Chris Smith Takes Over Black Death". Shock Till You Drop. Retrieved2010-04-03.
  10. Jump up^ Sharpe, Jo (2010-03-19). "Chris Smith Takes Over Black Death". The Mighty Bean. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
  11. ^ Jump up to:a b Blaney, Martin (2009-05-15). "HanWay Films sells "Black Death" to 12 Distributors". Screen International. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
  12. Jump up^ http://horrormoviesreviews.wordpress.com/
  13. Jump up^ Rotten, Ryan (2010-01-29). "Director Chris Smith on Black Death". Shock Till You Drop. Retrieved2010-04-03.
  14. Jump up^ "Black Death". Revolver Entertainment. Archived fromthe original on 9 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
  15. Jump up^ Miska, Brad (2010-07-07). "Fantasia 2010: New Stills: Chris Smith's Black Death". Dread Central. Retrieved2010-07-07.
  16. Jump up^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/black_death-2010/
  17. Jump up^ Jones, Alan. "Film4 FrightFest – Black Death Review".Film4. Archived from the original on 27 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
Set during the period of English history when the Bubonic plague spreads death across the land, a troubled young monk named Osmund is recruited by a band of soldiers to investigate a village that remains untouched. What they find there will change them forever.

Having enjoyed Christopher Smith's previous movies ("Creep", "Severance" and "Triangle"), I had high hopes for "Black Death" and was not disappointed. Although the gore of his previous movies is still evident during the battle scenes in which arms are severed by swords and heads crushed by maces, it's largely underplayed here with the script placing greater emphasis on the story's themes of faith, religion, superstition and love. It is this emphasis, along with the various twists in the plot, which make the choices faced by the characters in the third act of the movie so very interesting.

I was repeatedly reminded of the original "Wicker Man" whilst watching "Black Death", not only because of the central theme of a devout Christian confronting something terrible which attempts to challenge and undermine his own beliefs, but also because of the cold, bleak cinematography reminiscent of a seventies horror movie. The entire production is nicely directed and Smith utilises his horror knowledge to keep a constant and oppressive threat running throughout the film, regardless of the scene, to maximum effect. The visual effects, whether for the symptoms of the plague itself or for the various wounds suffered by the characters, are also excellent.

The cast are universally fantastic, although Sean Bean's towering performance – portraying the leader of the soldiers and a man "more dangerous than pestilence" – steals the movie. Eddie Redmayne does well in the central role of Osmund and manages to make his character's personal journey both interesting and believable, whilst Carice van Houten is also memorable in an important role during the second half of the movie.I was very impressed by "Black Death" and would recommend it to those who enjoy atmospheric horror movies such as the aforementioned "The Wicker Man" or "Don't Look Now", as well as those who seek out movies set in or around this period of Britain such as "In The Name Of The Rose" and "The Reckoning". Although parts are grim and even upsetting, it's never dull and is definitely a movie worthy of your time and support.63 out of 78 people found the following review useful:

A Thought-induced, Objective Plague Piece

9/10
Author: sharpobject2424 from United States
8 February 2011
Black Death is a hidden gem, as others have put it, and far from the Hollywood slop it so sharply contrasts. It could not be much more true to its' name, which is quite possibly the bleakest title a film can be given, while it feels genuine to its period backdrop. Everything here feels true to its' nature. And there is no excess of special effects or melodrama, or anything watered down, and instead the story is full of substance.

In 1348, the young monk Osmund finds himself conflicted at the films start, as his secret love Avrill is fleeing their plague-ridden city and provides him the choice to meet her in the marshland. Upon asking for a sign for guidance, his monastery is visited by Ulrich and his party of Christian fundamentalists. On a mission to a village beyond the marsh in search of a necromancer and any other witches to stamp out, he asks for a guide and young Osmund obliges. Thus begins an ugly and gritty crusade across an English countryside that is riddled with fear, intolerance, and the Black Death.

The struggle is personal as well as conceptual. For Osmund it is personal, as his love for Avrill causes him to question his own faith due to the charms and tricks of the pagans (huge plot twists underly this theme)and the brutality of the band he guides. And then the bigger picture, the struggle between the Christians and the pagans, is tastefully portrayed with an objective narrative. In the film, there are cruelties and acts of brutality inflicted from both belief systems. This was perhaps my favorite element to the movie. While personally I rooted for the pagans against the tyranny of the church, I found that my brother and I could argue over who was the demonized side, and the writing offered no kind of resolution. That the oppression of the church and the clandestine nature of the pagans only fueled one another is probably truer to history than textbooks will ever show, this movie portrays the idea brilliantly (despite the dark feel).

If you think the movie sounds interesting, and are interested in it for plot, substance,and a gratifying experience, check this one out.
The seventh year after it began, it came to England and first began in the towns and ports joining on the seacoasts, in Dorsetshire, where, as in other counties, it made the country quite void of inhabitants so that there were almost none left alive.
... But at length it came to Gloucester, yea even to Oxford and to London, and finally it spread over all England and so wasted the people that scarce the tenth person of any sort was left alive.
Geoffrey the Baker, Chronicon Angliae
There appear to have been several introductio

Good exploration of the nature of religion

8/10
Author: Jarid Hewlett from St. Johns, Antigua
10 September 2010
While some may see this movie as having a not so subtle undertone of 'the greatness of Christianity', I saw it as an interesting exploration of religion itself. The characters in this movie all differ in their religious views, allowing you to identify with them based on your own religious persuasion. There is the fanatic, the believer, the non believer, the good, the bad, the in between etc.

The plot itself helps this journey, as the characters move from one setting to a vastly different one, all the while suffering the same basic experiences. Their initial motivations, in addition to their reactions to these experiences, all differ along the lines of their beliefs, and help either strengthen or weaken those beliefs. This movie shows quite well, that people's attitudes to religion have not changed in hundreds of years. God is still used to explain things we do not understand, and fear and "miracles" are still used to recruit and keep believers.
Human behaviour also has not changed much. Even faced with the 'black death', one of the worst pandemics in human history, people still found reason to divide and fight amongst themselves assigning blame and punishment rather than band together. The way these themes fit in so appropriately with the medieval setting, makes it all the more surprising that they can still be applied in today's world. All in all, a good movie for open minded people because although the film explores these themes, it makes no conclusion. That is left to the audience to determine who was right, who was justified and who was wrong; who was good and who was evil.ns into Europe. The plague reached Sicily in October 1347, carried by twelve Genoese galleys,[26] and rapidly spread all over the island. Galleys from Kaffa reached Genoa and Venice in January 1348, but it was the outbreak in Pisa a few weeks later that was the entry point to northern Italy. Towards the end of January, one of the galleys expelled from Italy arrived in Marseille.[27]
From Italy, the disease spread northwest across Europe, striking France, Spain, Portugal and England by June 1348, then turned and spread east through Germany and Scandinavia from 1348 to 1350. It was introduced in Norway in 1349 when a ship landed at Askøy, then spread to Bjørgvin (modern Bergen) andIceland.[28] Finally it spread to northwestern Russia in 1351. The plague was somewhat less common in parts of Europe that had smaller trade relations with their neighbours, including the Kingdom of Poland, the majority of the Basque Country, isolated parts of Belgium and the Netherlands, and isolated alpine villages throughout the continent.[29][30]Modern researchers do not think that the plague ever became endemic in Europe or its rat population. The disease repeatedly wiped out the rodent carriers so that the fleas died out until a new outbreak from Central Asia repeated the process. The outbreaks have been shown to occur roughly 15 years after a warmer and wetter period in areas where plague is endemic in other species such as gerbils.[31][32]The only medical detail that is questionable is the infallibility of approaching death, as if the bubo discharges, recovery is possible.[35]
This was followed by acute fever and vomiting of blood. Most victims died two to seven days after initial infection. Freckle-like spots and rashes,[36] which could have been caused by flea-bites, were identified as another potential sign of the plague.
Some accounts, like that of Lodewijk Heyligen, whose master the Cardinal Colonnadied of the plague in 1348, noted a distinct form of the disease that infected the lungs and led to respiratory problems[33] and is identified with pneumonic plague.
It is said that the plague takes three forms. In the first people suffer an infection of the lungs, which leads to breathing difficulties. Whoever has this corruption or contamination to any extent cannot escape but will die within two days. Another form...in which boils erupt under the armpits,...a third form in which people of both sexes are attacked in the groin.[37]
Medical knowledge had stagnated during the Middle Ages. The most authoritative account at the time came from the medical faculty in Paris in a report to the king of France that blamed the heavens, in the form of aconjunction of three planets in 1345 that caused a "great pestilence in the air".[39] This report became the first and most widely circulated of a series of plague tracts that sought to give advice to sufferers. That the plague was caused by bad air became the most widely accepted theory. Today, this is known as the miasma theory. The word 'plague' had no special significance at this time, and only the recurrence of outbreaks during the Middle Ages gave it the name that has become the medical term.The historian Francis Aidan Gasquet wrote about the 'Great Pestilence' in 1893[42] and suggested that "it would appear to be some form of the ordinary Eastern or bubonic plague". He was able to adopt the epidemiology of the bubonic plague for the Black Death for the second edition in 1908, implicating rats and fleas in the process, and his interpretation was widely accepted for other ancient and medieval epidemics, such as the Justinian plague that was prevalent in the Eastern Roman Empire from 541 to 700 CE.[41]
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