MovieChat Forums > 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) Discussion > Strangling the witch-scene

Strangling the witch-scene

posted 14 years ago by denzillah
5 replies | jump to latest

Hi,
The scene were a witch get's burn and strangled is so damn horrible, I saw it yesterday and I got damn nightmares thanks to it.
Watching here while she's getting strangled is so horrbile I get sick.
Watcha think?

[–] edimeo25 14 years ago

Yep, the image certainly stayed with me when I was 8 years old watching it in the theaters. The international version extends this scene slightly, where you the camera stays on the lady long enough to see drool rolling off her tongue. Nice.

But it wasn't a witch, it was a Jew, they were persecuted at that time for their faith.

[–] emuir-1 10 years ago

Why do you assume she was a witch? She was more likely a Jewess or Moor. Even the forcibly converted (conversos) were not trusted and many thousands were burned at the stake on suspicion of secretly practicing their old faith. Doctors, scholars and other learned men and women were accused of heresy, especially if they practiced medicine and other heathen learning gained from the Arabs. Newly converted 'heretics' were burned after torture as they had repented of their sins and were not going to be given a chance to repent. Catholic Spain had to be cleansed of heretics and possible backsliders.

[–] mikeyg24 9 years ago

Not to mention the fact that you didn't necessarily have to be guilty of anything to fall foul of the Inquisition. If you fell out with someone they might report you to the authorities on a lie out of spite and before you knew it you had been coerced into a 'confession'.

I've had a lot of sobering thoughts in my time Del Boy, it's them that started me drinking!

[–] pocodfe 8 years ago

This scene is one of the most shocking I've ever scene in any movie, second only to the chest burster scene in the original Alien movie. And the music and the choir is just unbelievable haunting and chilling. I mean, REALLY GREAT SCORE on this scene and the entire movie. What a score.

I wasn't sure of the meaning or significance of this strangulation/burning scene, because I'm not a fan of history or dates, so I researched it. At this time, anyone who was considered a heretic (denounces Catholicism for this time period) was either burned at the stake, or offered a choice to repent, and then face strangulation on the stake first, then the burning, which was deemed less torturous. In this scene, the women is strangled first, then burned. In the next shot the man is not strangled, but is burned. Still, the scene of the woman is just grueling to watch...makes you cringe. Combined with the score...my gosh.

[–] chilidoggg (13118) 3 years ago

Auto De Fe? What's the Auto De Fe?
It's what you oughtn't to do but you do anyway!