(Fantasy) Season of the Witch

Season of the Witch is a 2011 American fantasy action film starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Dominic Sena. Cage stars with Ron Perlman as knights who return from the Crusades to find their homeland ruined by the Black Death. Two church elders accuse a girl (Claire Foy) of being a witch and being responsible for the destruction and command the knights to transport the girl to a monastery so the monks there can lift her curse from the land.

Set in a fictional version of the 13th century, three women accused of witchcraft are hanged and then drowned by a priest. The Priest performs a ritual to prevent the witches returning from the dead. One of the witches takes on a demonic appearance and kills the priest. Cut to a hundred years later during the Crusades, knights Behmen (Cage) and Felson (Perlman) choose to desert the war and return home after seeing women and children mercilessly slaughtered.

They discover the Black Plague has swept across the land. Most of the townspeople believe the plague is caused by sorcery and the devil. Upon entering a town, Behmen's sword shows his crest and he and Felson are identified as deserters and taken to Cardinal D'Ambroise who is infected with the plague. The Cardinal asks the knights to escort an apparent witch suspected of causing the plague, to a remote monastery where an elite group of monks reside, capable of determining if the girl is truly a witch. If she is found guilty, the monks know a sacred ritual that can cancel her powers, and stop the plague that is devastating Europe.

The two knights agree, but under one condition, that she will be given a fair trial. The Cardinal agrees, and they set out accompanied by a priest Debelzaq, a young man Kay, a grieving knight Eckhardt whose family were killed by the plague, and the swindler Hagamar who leads the way to the monastery. The witch, a young girl later identified as Anna, shows hatred towards Debelzaq and forms a bond with Behmen.





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