My command of the Spanish Language is not what it used to be (or not what it ever was?), but from what I can tell this would be translated to "The Witches of Zugarramurdi." Not sure why they went with the vulgar title for English speaking audiences... we like our swears, I guess! But maybe it makes sense, while it's not a overtly vulgar or gross film, it's certainly far from subtle. I know director/co-writer Alex de la Iglesia is a highly lauded filmmaker - and Witching and Bitching is certainly enjoyable and has style and energy to burn. But I *loved* the other film of his that I've seen (The Last Circus), so I felt just a little disappointed that this one was just "kind of good."
The story begins with a robbery in a gold store - the crooks are dressed up as street performers (human statues and Spongebob characters, from what I could tell). It's actually kind of high concept - our main thief Jose (Hugo Silva) is dressed as Jesus and painted totally silver and his weapons are stashed inside the giant cross he's carrying. His accomplice Antonio (Mario Casas) is painted all green, posing as a plastic army man. These two characters really pop off the screen (silver Jesus in particular looks great), and overall the movie looks awesome. It's crisp and colorful throughout, and this kinetic first scene sets a high-energy tone that the film more or less sustains throughout the run-time.
Anyways, things don't go as planned. We quickly find out that there is going to be a hefty dose of comedy and unrealistic behavior, as Jose has brought his son Sergio along for the robbery. His excuse? He has visitation for Sergio that day, and he's not going to give his ex-wife (who he really, really hates) the satisfaction of missing time with him. One of the victims of the robbery chimes in about how he too hates his wife - this becomes a running theme in the film. As they are arguing, one of the employees triggers the alarm, and a shoot-out ensues. Most of the gang is shot or arrested, but Jose, Hugo, and little Sergio take the loot (a bag of gold rings) and hijack a taxi. They take the driver and passenger hostage, evade the cops, and plan on heading out of the country.
Unfortunately, the only route they can take is through the titular Zugarramurdi - a town the taxi driver says is known to be a hotbed of witches. And from some rudimentary wikipedia research, it looks like Zugarramurdi would be kind of a Spanish equivalent to our Salem here in the US. While there were no witch trials there, it was said to be a place where witches would meet to engage in their occult activity. To this day, they still have a yearly festival there - complete with huge fires in the "cave of witches."
The four men (and the boy) end up in a mansion which is home to three generations of witches. Unbeknownst to them, they are part of a prophecy that will bring the witches back to the forefront of world domination or something like that. Will our robbers be able to escape the witches of Zugarramurdi?
Also, Jose's unstable ex-wife is on their trail, as are a couple of bickering cops. There are a lot of moving parts in this movie, but it's never really complicated in any way. Just a lot to write about.
The first thing that comes to mind when looking back on this film is the interesting take it has on the battle of the sexes. It comes across as really misogynist at first - nearly every male character is constantly complaining about how much they hate their wives/women in general, and how their lives would be so much better without them. But it gets laid on so thick that it turns around and becomes sort of satirical, you know? The men then turn out to be nothing but sex-driven doofuses when they are totally preoccupied by the (staggeringly sexy) witch Eva (Carolina Bang) - ignoring the fact that they are in serious danger and members of their group are missing. Witches have often been portrayed in movies as embodying the power/fear of the feminine, and Witching and Bitching *really* plays that up.
So while it messes around with these ideas of gender and sexuality, I'm not totally sure what the point was. I'm not sure of it's a cultural thing or what; while I could see that the message wasn't subtle, I had a hard time translating what that message was supposed to be. I'm not sure if it's empowering to women, or anti-woman, or maybe it's just a movie where they're trying to ignore all that baggage. By the end, it still felt a little tasteless to me... but who am I to say?
Gender-business aside, it's still a pretty good film. It's fast-paced with a lot of characters, but it's never confusing. Really, it's almost overly simplistic - the characters are played more like cartoonish stereotypes than actual people. Witching and Bitching isn't really interested in being a character study - I felt like most of them exist to get us from one cool set piece/gag/setting to another. Which is totally fine - the sort of manic energy Alex de la Iglesia imparts on the film makes it all gel together pretty well.
I did end up having a couple of reservations about the film. (This is all last act stuff, so SPOILERS!) They go big and bold for the finale, and the CGI just gets a little overwhelming. Despite some other sort of outlandish stuff earlier in the film (i.e. the way the witches skitter around on the walls and ceiling like spiders), the movie seemed pretty grounded to me. I won't spoil what happens, but the sense of scale just didn't work for me. And it also gets a little too self-aware at the end... like it wants to give you a happy ending, and then just totally goes overboard. I don't know if satirizing a happy ending by giving the audience an obnoxiously happy ending is the way to go, but it did leave kind of a sour taste in my mouth.
Still, it's definitely worth a watch. It's just a very well made-film. Even though I wasn't necessarily on board with some of the story-telling choices, there is enough style and energy to power through the rough spots.
I would recommend this film.
No comments:
Post a Comment