The Reckoning (2002, United Kingdom)
mysterious deathmystery movies
Running time: 112 minutes
Language: English
In 1380 England, young priest Nicholas is forced to flee from his village after being found having sex with a married woman. During the night, he stumbles upon a strange scene - a few people wearing unusual dresses are killing a man. While detected, Nicholas tries to run away from them, but he is caught and tied up. Soon he learns that what he saw wasn’t a murder, but euthanasia, and those people were dressed strangely because they were actors. Nicholas is keen to join the troupe to replace the dead member, but they are reluctant to accept him. He travels with them to the nearest town, where a collapsed bridge blocks their way. With no money to bury the dead friend and no money to fix the axel in their cart, they decide to stage a play in the town to raise some money. Joined by Nicholas, they performed a biblical play, but the attendance was poor, so they had to come up with some other plan. The town lives right now on a different story - a young boy carrying a purse full of money was attacked in the woods and later found dead. Benedictine Monk Simon Damian accused the young woman of seducing the boy and stealing the money that was later found under her bed. The troupe leader, Martin, decides to put up a play based on that story, but while they gather the information among locals, the story seems to be changing.
A British historical mystery movie set after the Black Death has killed about half of the Europe population and the survivors were left in a world in which death was simply part of the everyday life. One of the themes of the movie is the switch of the medieval theatre from biblical stories to other sources of material. The plot is interesting and involving, a cast full of talented actors did well, but the script is a bit too simple as well as the characters are a bit too single-dimensional. But overall, it is quite a good piece of mystery set in medieval times.
Do you have what it takes to solve a case like this?
Our rating |
8 / 10 |
Movie value |
7 / 10 |
Realism factor |
3 / 5 |
Adventure factor |
2 / 5 |
Story complexity |
2 / 5 |
66 |
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The Reckoning
Cast of The Reckoning
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as Nicholas | |
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as Martin | |
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as Tobias | |
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as Sarah | |
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as Stephen | |
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as Straw | |
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as Springer | |
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as Lord De Guise | |
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as Simon Damian | |
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as Sheriff | |
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as King’s Justice | |
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as Gravedigger | |
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as Gaoler |
