Häxan
I went to a witchcraft film double bill this week, one of which was Häxan (1922) which I found fascinating. It's a "documentary" from 1921, which explores myths and folklore about witches through a mixture of found imagery, voiceover, and recreations of witchcraft practices and witch hunts. Towards the end, it explores reasons for these myths rooted in persecution of old and young women in a way that's genuinely quite sympathetic and touching.
"we no longer burn our old and poor. but do they not suffer bitterly? and the little woman, whom we call hysterical, lonely, and unhappy, isn't she still a riddle for us? nowadays we detain the unhappy in a mental institution or - if she is wealthy - in a modern clinic. and then we will console ourselves with the notion that the mildly temperate shower of the clinic has replaced the barbaric methods of the medieval times."
