The Advocate (1993) User Reviews

Great British/European Film

[scarymonkey65 · 8/10 · 8 September 2005]

Just watched this film again on video (purchased off Ebay), and this film is simply magical.

I love films of all kinds from fantasy - Holes, Chocolat, Batman, through drama and thrillers, but what I love best is the telling of a story, and the way it's phrased. Hour of the Pig is just that, an excellent story developed in layers, that takes its time, because it does a fantastic job of developing the characters, mostly through the dying art of great dialogue, and some of the best British actors around.

Colin Firth and Ian Holm underpin an excellent cast, rich in dialogue, with a fantastic story. And there's the rub, you have to like stories, as there's very little action, just a fascinating twist through medieval France.

Films like this remind me why I go to the cinema which is where I first saw it over 10 years ago. It's a crime this doesn't have a DVD release.

It never goes for less than £10 secondhand, and often tops £15, for a secondhand VIDEO. Come on, whoever owns the rights to this, and get it out on DVD.

One of my favorite movies

[bobscook · 8/10 · 27 September 2004]

The quirkiness that another reviewer objects to is part of this movie's charm. The opening scene, a hanging, where one of the co-participants (a donkey) in an unnatural act is freed upon petition of the townspeople, is simply wonderful and sets the tone for what follows.

Not pointed out by any reviewers yet is that the director seems to have reproduced scenes out of European paintings (Flemish, I believe) - the deer in the inn, the man from the inquisition seated in the tavern, the innkeeper's wife and staff gathered to meet the lawyer when he arrives at the in, and more. The lighting, colors, and scene arrangement are faithfully reproduced. This is just one example of the charms of this movie, which is virtually unknown to the public.

And one of the most delicious parts is the witch's blessing. Whenever I lend or give away a copy of this, I pointedly give it with my own blessing.

this is a great movie, acting wonderful by Firth, Holmes

[pmoran-3 · 8/10 · 6 November 2000]

I am surprised this film is not more popular. Only sorry i did not see it on the big screen, but found the plot interesting, and the acting superior, especially C.Firth and Ian holm. Some of the lines are very amusing, especially from Courtois' clerk. I have watched this many times, and never find it boring, See it for a good watch.

Classic tale of Good vs. evil

[mimacdon4 · 29 January 2002]

Firstly, this movie is based on true legal cases during the 15th century which makes it intriguing from the get go. It is based on Richard Cortois, played by Colin Firth, an Advocate who leaves a practice in Paris, to seek the simple country life in a village named Abbeville. What he finds is a quite different story. Country law applies to both man and beast and that is where much of the fun unfolds. The story centers mainly around the case against a pig accused of killing a Jewish child. Courtois, at first, finds the case a bit ridiculous, but finds that as the defense Advocate, he must represent the pig. He is also solicited by the pig's owner to try the case "as the pig is everything to them". As the story unfolds, it becomes evident that there is more here than meets the eye. The case becomes a symbol of maintaining order in the little country town. Courtois attempts to get to the bottom of the mystery and finds that other children have similiarly gone missing over the last year. He is provided a hint by a client tried for witchery saying "Look to the boy, Maitre". It is a great film on many levels and provides quite a bit of comic relief during the many trial sequences. Ian Holm, as the priest who has his own defination of good-which includes trysts with many of his lady parishoners, gives a worthy performance as does Nicole Williamson as the corrupt Seigneur. It is Colin Firth who shines in his wonderful portrayal of Richard Cortois, the one driving force of nobility and honor in the town rotten to the core with evil.

Solid film that never overcomes quirk factor

[David N. · 7/10 · 22 March 1999]

I saw this film as "The Advocate," not that it matters, but just so you know. The place where I rented it didn't have the original box, so I had NO idea what the film was about. I was, um, surprised.

Colin Firth plays a 15th-century lawyer (called an advocate) who moves to the country from Paris. He wants to get in touch with the real essence of the law, defending the common folk and such. As it turns out, animals can be charged with crimes as well. Poor Colin finds himself defending rats and a pig in open court. (I could make a really obvious crack about the parallels to the practices of modern law, but that's a tad crass. Truthful, but crass.)

The film's claim that the secret of the movie is along the same lines of "The Crying Game" is surely meant as a joke. Still, the movie spends too much dwelling on the absurdity of defending animals and not enough time finding a story to tell. There is some twaddle about defending a beautiful gypsy woman's pig in a murder trial, but it is never gripping or, sadly, interesting.

The acting make up for the triteness of the story, though. Firth is solid and has some great scenes with the Seigneur who owns the land and the village Firth comes to reside in. There is also a small appearance by the wonderful, underrated, nuanced, subtle IAN HOLM~ as a shady priest. The cast raises the film from the status of sideshow curiosity.

While the "Crying Game" style secret is a reference to the murder case that is (ultimately) shuffled off to the side of the movie, I have no problem revealing another big secret of "The Advocate": the sow is really a hog!!!

Nice Bit of History

[konky2000 · 7/10 · 3 April 2004]

This film gives what feels like a realistic depiction of the medieval europe described in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. This is a world where the priest seems to have slept with all the women in town, the main Inn in town is also a brothel, and an animal could be hung for sodomy.

Stepping into this mess is a city lawyer intent on finding some peace and quiet in the country -- think "Northern Exposure" set during the 1450's.

There are some funny bits and a lot more sex than I was prepared for. In addition to the fact that animals could be tried in court, other bits of history are thrown in. The plight of the Jews, influence of landowners, corruption of the church and spread of the plague are all thrown in making the film something of a greatest hits of 1450, and that is ultimately the problem. While the film is busily touching on so many issues, it fails to deeply address any single one to the level I would have liked.

Another problem with the film is that everyone seemed to be wearing costumes that had just arrived fresh from the drycleaners. I mean its the middle ages! People back had only 1 or 2 outfits in their wardrobe. They were dirty, but this film doesn't give any of that, and that reduces some of the realism. It just never felt like anything other than a bunch of actors playing dress up.

So, while I learned something from the film, the lack of real dramatic tension, and a feeling that everyone was a little too clean cut meant that the film never engrossed me enough for me to fall in love with it.

The concept is great though, and I was left feeling that if this movie got the same treatment as the current HBO series 'Deadwood', it would make a great TV series.

This offbeat film is not simply poetic license at the expense of all history and reason

[edtyct · 9/10 · 29 July 2003]

Hour of the Pig, or the Advocate, as it is better known outside England in its edited incarnation to avoid an NC-17 rating, is a period piece built around the curiosity of the medieval animal trial. Yes, this strange phenomenon actually occurred; both the Church, and to a lesser extent, the legal authorities in various parts of medieval Europe spend part of their time assessing the guilt of animals in regard to property damage and human injury. Behind their investigations in this heavily Christian world was the idea that the devil might be controlling those who were not Christian or otherwise behaving badly. As you might well imagine, Jews, Moors, animals, and other nonconformists often got the raw end of the deal. The film indulges slightly in the conceit that the sophisticates in society--like the advocate (Colin Firth) and an educated priest (Ian Holm)--were intellectually above these superstitions but were either too powerless or too hypocritical to protest it.

Be that as it may, the advocate (based loosely on an actual lawyer, and his cases) comes to a small town in the French countryside to begin a new practice away from the indecencies of Paris. He figures that his knowledge of law will work to both his advantage and that of his new neighbors, whom he is primed to admire for their bucolic virtues. He couldn't be more wrong. The tone is set with his first glimpse of the town, like a scene from Brueghel--the hanging of a man and a donkey convicted of engaging in sodomy. At the last minute, a messenger from the authorities arrives bearing a character reference sufficient to reprieve the donkey; no such luck, however, for her partner in crime.

From that point forward, the film gently presents the advocate as mistaken about nearly every conviction that he deigns to express. The serving girl at the inn, whom he admires on first glance for how she "carries herself," so unlike the women in Paris, turns out to be a prostitute. Nor is he aware that this inn, in which he takes up residence, is a whorehouse until his clerk, who is the script's witty voice of common sense, informs him just before he returns to Paris. His first case, the defense of a man accused of killing his wife's lover, in which a pig figures as a material witness, is an ostensible success, though the defendant all but admits his guilt to the stunned advocate after the trial. His second case, upon which he enters with doomed confidence, is an unmitigated disaster because of his ignorance of local precedent, resulting in the death of a woman for witchcraft. As the woman is taken from the courtroom, she offers the advocate some enigmatic advice about a case involving a young Jewish boy recently killed, apparently by a pig belonging to gypsies. "Look to the boy," she tells him. At her execution, she offers the town not the curse that everyone was expecting but a blessing, intended to cure the town of its sins. As it happens, the blessing comes true, but, as this film would have it, the cure may well be worse than the disease.

Enter now the plot's hinge. The authorities incarcerate the gypsies' pig, expecting to execute it. Firth wants desperately to avoid the matter, despite his attraction to the seductive owner of the animal, but fate conspires against him. The case eventually gets him mixed up with the local seigneur (Nicol Williamson), a pragmatic businessman who bought his title and wants to buy the advocate as well. We're not quite sure why until much later when the advocate learns how the boy died, but the advocate still has to win the pig's freedom because the facts of the case remain hidden.

The film doesn't qualify as a traditional murder mystery, despite the scaffolding of its plot; it's a little too arbitrary for that. But its irony and its flirtation with mystification, if not traditional narrative mystery, maintain interest. Furthermore, its sense of humor doesn't get in the way of the dark, the gruesome, and the baffling, which are the film's true hallmark. The characters are well drawn and well acted. This story is an adventure of a sort that doesn't often make it into film these days. Too bad. The rewards are many.

A Hidden Comedy

[caspian1978 · 6/10 · 1 March 2005]

For starters, the movie suffers the hidden quality of slowly becoming a Monty Python comedy. The opening shows a donkey getting let free from his charges of sexual conduct, while his human master dangles from his rope. The movie has its moments of comic relief, that helps the drama part of the movie lose its drama. To keep the audience interested in the trial and the dull lifestyle of France in this era, sex and nudity is thrown into the mix every so often. This is one of the movies strong points as the audience welcomes it with open arms. Although this brings more comedy into the drama, it works. Overall, the movie does not last that long, making the movie more watchable. If it was to drag on for another 30 minutes to an hour, the movie would lose its flavor and not be enjoyable. For what it is, it is a nice story with some wonderful moments.

Fresh, Well-Researched, Imaginative

[oakenguy · 10/10 · 5 October 2000]

I caught this movie after reading an interview in the Washington Post with the writer/director---I *love* movies where the strangest parts are all actually true. I'm very surprised it's not more popular (though it's interesting the video box never even mentions that it's set in Medieval France!). A hidden gem.

Pretty Good for a TV Movie

[fatcat-73450 · 6/10 · 6 November 2021]

Some skilled lawyer from Paris moves to a town in the countryside because he thinks life is going to be simpler and quieter.

Well, he clashes a little bit with the locals because he doesn't agree with their ignorant and petty ways. He also gets into problems with the local nobleman who uses his position and wealth to abuse the system. This is, of course, your everyday average innocent ethical lawyer dumped into a crooked world.

The main plot concerns him trying to defend the pig of some local gypsies which is brought to trial for supposedly killing someone. He also falls in lust with a girl of that band a la Frollo.

Great costumes, cinematography, and sets. It's a great picture for getting immersed in medieval France (as long as you excuse the fact that all the dialogue is in English).

As a legal drama it's a bit weak. Not many grandiloquent appeals to the jury or shocking secret witnesses (in fact there are two trials - one he loses and the other has such modest stakes that it's difficult to feel invested in it).

With regard to the law and legal system itself, anyone who's not a legal historian probably won't know precisely what's goin on at trial - the legal order is just too different from today's to understand it well by watching some trials in passing. However, we do get a gist of the nature of the judicial apparatus of the time - that it was mixed with religious law, rather illogical, cruel, and easily manipulated.

You'll be treated to a healthy dose of pointless nudity and sex, but also strong acting. I will also commend the defeatist nature of the resolutions to most issues. No, justice was almost assuredly not going to be found in medieval courts or society.

Whatever small victories or reversals the people of that era could hope to enjoy once they got themselves involved in a problem would be hollow either because they came at a huge price or ended up being insufficient to right the original wrong. It's almost always better to avoid having to get to the point of litigation in the first place.

Pretty much the same as today.

Honourable Mentions: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Despite the fact that all or most of the promotional material has the protagonist and white women (I'm sure they had a good reason for that... not), the main romance here is between the protagonist and a roma woman. It's reminiscent of the 1996 Disney classic where the plot centers around a "love prism" (for lack of a better term to love square) composed of three men and a gypsy woman.

Liberal lawyer meets Pigfinder General

[John_Mclaren · 4/10 · 9 November 2005]

This period flick had much going for it- BBC backing, an excellent cast including Colin Firth and Lord of the Ring's Ian Holm- and pretty decent sets. It is quite well shot. It promises us that "When murder is the motive, seduction is the last defence".

Sadly it just doesn't work. A sort of anachronistic liberalism just suffocates the life out of the whole thing and gives it a phonier ring than a $8 note. Colin Firth is the crusading lawyer who uses all the jargon of a "right-on" legal aid lawyer who retires to digs in Islington for the night. But this is medieval France- not the East End of London. We have the dreary spectacle of this uber-liberal goody-two-shoes Firth protecting the compulsory ethnic minority figure plus all the brute beasts of the land against the evil and conspiratorial Lord of the Manor. Although some of it is funny, most of it is just embarrassingly clumsy.

There is plenty of admirable full frontal nudity, but sadly that is probably one of the few reasons to bother watching this mediocre cinematic effort. Although it claims historical authenticity, believe me- that is just tosh.

Under-appreciated, rewarding film

[dannews · 9/10 · 6 November 2006]

This film deserves to be far better known. It's clever, fun, and a terrific balance of successful Hollywood pacing with non-traditional, non-Hollywood storytelling.

Yes, it's a historical murder mystery. But it's a film about excess, as is the recent Marie Antoinette, but this one is darker and more substantive. The dialogue is sharp, often funny, and vaguely unsettling.

Like all good films, several elements work together. The photography, the costuming, the soundtrack, and the characterization all underscore the script's emphasis on indulgence. It's really very well done.

grueling law

[killercharm · 6/10 · 30 November 2021]

In 15th century France a suave, urban lawyer moves to the country to get a greatly needed change. He is in search of the noble peasant. He has tired of the guiles and wiles of city-folk; he wants nothing more of them. Unfortunately he is almost immediately beset with the wackiness that could only be found in the country. He now has to defend a pig. And against the charge of murder no less. This is a moving story. To see how people who differed were viewed as animals hurts my sensibilities but it wasn't that long ago...

More Sick, Biased Crap From The BBC

[ccthemovieman-1 · 1/10 · 21 June 2007]

This is known as "The Advocate" to most people outside England, where this film was made. It's no surprise the ultra-liberal BBC financially backed this film.

Boy, it seems European filmmakers hate Catholics more than the North American ones, at least some of the European movies I've seen. This movie is a prime example of British garbage. Hollywood doesn't monopolize the market when it comes to sleaze, believe me.

This story is the supposed expose of the Fifteenth Century Church where church officials are all not only corrupted but perverted. Nudity is no big deal in films, not since the '60s, but this film also gives us tales of men having sex with animals. This is sick stuff.

An under-appreciated gem with lots of attention to detail

[YumaD · 22 August 2011]

I'm surprised this movie is so unknown! From the beginning, prepare to be impressed with the accurate visual detailing of mid fifteenth century France. I was wowed by the costumes, sets, and extras (who appear plucked straight from a period painting). The dialogue can be slightly convoluted at times, and a few of the characterizations felt slightly strained, but these are minor complaints. The movie, besides featuring a great understated performance by Colin Firth, also showcases a talented supporting cast. Ian Holm, who played Bilbo in the Lord of the Rings, is great as the knowledgeable priest. Jim Carter, as Firth's right hand man, is a wonderful and versatile actor (check him out in Downton Abbey). And finally Nicol Williamson as the nobleman, who has many opportunities for over-acting, but instead crafts a believable character and carries off his role with brilliant understatement. The premise, that all the trials presented in the film are based on actual 'crimes', generates much interest in the plot and makes this movie more than worth watching!

very original very special

[JonanthanNewOrleans · 9/10 · 26 January 2021]

Like all the positive reviews here this is a great movie, very fresh, original, special.

totally recommend!!

9/10

An over looked gem that satisfies

[gene-23 · 10/10 · 29 May 2013]

In 15th century France animals were held as responsible for their actions as humans. All of the court cases in the film are based on actual court records including the opening scene. A man and a donkey are about to be hanged for having carnal knowledge of each other. A local parish took up a petition attesting to the good character of the donkey; saying it would never have willingly participated and so it was pardoned on the spot. This really happened according to an interview on the radio. The main case is a pig charged with murder makes it a different kind of film noir. The costumes, sets and actors are superb. Subtle humor is sprinkled throughout. This is one of those rare films that left me and friends completely satisfied as having watched it.

What do the simple folk do?

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 13 April 2014]

A tale set in medieval France, The Advocate is the story of a lawyer who tired of the decadence of Paris longs for a simpler life Colin Firth heads for a most rural area where he figures the peasant folk to be a kindler, gentler lot than what he left in the Isle De France.

What he finds is a brutal and ignorant lot of people ruled by a cynical local lord played by Nicol Williamson who manipulates the populace for his own benefit. Williamson is not someone from an old and titled family, he's a harbinger of what was to come, a businessman who for services rendered got a title. Now that he's rich and with a title, he and his family can live a hedonistic lifestyle and they indulge themselves to the fullest. Williamson's son Justin Chadwick has all the vices and invents a few of his own.

Among the beliefs these folks have is that animals have souls, souls because of their simplicity can be readily possessed by Satan and his minions. They face trial for offenses as one poor goat does at the beginning with a man who sodomized him. Only a testament to the goat's good moral character saves him from Judge Michael Gough hanging him with the man who did him wrong.

As a defense advocate Firth gets one case to defend a pig owned by a family of gypsies. I will not go further except to say that Firth is quite disillusioned by everyone in what he thought was some rural idyll.

The film has a lot of nudity in it. Quite frankly it needed it to perk up the interest. The Advocate for the most part is one crashingly dull film and I think the players knew it. Even Donald Pleasence who usually can spark a film doesn't deliver at all. No doubt Pleasence was kept in strict directorial check, a pity.

Medieval France is recreated quite well, too bad the story just wasn't more interesting.

Brilliant Movie!!

[darkteilani · 10/10 · 5 November 2003]

*Warning! Contains some spoilers!*

An intelligent story brought to live with a brilliant cast!

"Firth" of all of course Colin Firth who is as endearing and convincing as always. He just radiates so much honesty into this character and to us being witty, sexy, passionate, sly and clever at the same time.

I regard him as the best English actor of this time!

He plays a lawyer looking for peace,justice and a quiet life in the country in order to escape political corruption. And every lawyer in real life will tell you that those are unreachable goals and the quest is just grotesque. But Richard Courtois starts with the best intentions in mind and acts accordingly, even almost completely disregarding his own safety. Partly because he naively believes the law to bring justice and not the money or the political power. A lawyer with ideals, a heart and conscience, a rarity.

Ian Holm is beautiful cast as priest Albertus who goes after women nevertheless,twisting everything the way it fits him best while always having a sharp look and the wits to escape the Inquisition and the mighty landlord. The conversations between him and the greenhorn lawyer are refreshing, funny and also frustrating when Albertus denies what he really knows to be right in order to preserve his good life. He betrays his friend Courtois by doing that looking him straight in the eye.

The crime, the perpetrator and the mystery are well developed and the truth isn't reveal until the very end. I enjoyed myself tremendously (being a lawyer myself and realizing that the madness brought before court is still the same though the laws have changed... well, a bit... *lol*)

A bit raw, like uncooked hamburger. OK if you like it.

[lora64 · 5/10 · 4 September 2001]

Out of curiosity I watched this film on TV when it came on after midnight mainly because I rather like Colin Firth (handsome fellow!). I'm afraid I simply got lost on the whole thing.

I learned more of what the story was meant to be about by the rolling onscreen printed text at the beginning and the end which explained some of the history and background, thank goodness, or I really would have been lost. Otherwise, most of what I saw was: 1) quaint medieval costumes and sombre castle settings, 2) a more mature Colin Firth (the Advocate in the film, I'm told), 3) an odd menagerie of peculiar looking people, tall and extra short, 4) lots of bare bottoms, 5) a series of Firth's worst advocate nightmares become reality, or so it seemed, 6) a case of the plague towards the end. There was a good dose of intrigue and suspicion wrapped up in silence where I guess the viewer was supposed to know what everyone was thinking. Maybe this wasn't my night for connecting. Am I getting old or what?

Rewarding, but not for every one.

[searchanddestroy-1 · 9/10 · 2 October 2020]

If you are interested in medieval times, and in a realistic way, not with CGI effects as many American or Russian features from the last decades give us, in the Hollywood manner; if you search for some kind of Eric Rohmer(s films like features, or even a movie which makes you think about John Huston's A WALK WITH LOVE AND DEATH, this film is definitely for you. A pretty interesting and unusual atmosphere which describes the middle age customs and habits, so weird and offbeat for people of modern times. But of course most of audiences won't be interested in this movie. A very minimalist way of story telling but I love this. The topic about true events that really happened, the trial of a pig accused to have killed a little boy and more, eaten him on Easter Friday - a day where it is forbidden to eat flesh - you have to see it to believe it. I don't regret to have seen it. really.

Surprisingly authentic with strong contemporary relevance .

[john-5658 · 9/10 · 13 May 2008]

The joy of this film is the acting - it is amazing. Donald Pleasance's speech for the prosecution at the trial of the pig has you hanging on every word as if you were there in the courtroom. The witch is so telling too - so haunting in her sense of herself. Michael Gough's judge has such depth and irony, and the grand seigneur picks up on the flippancy and boredom of the upper classes in XIVth Century France with such understatement. The use of terms like the French "maitre" (for the lawyers) and the Latin "domini" (for the priest)is exactly right. "Master" or "Lord" would be quite wrong. There is no weak link at all - this is subtle individual and ensemble playing with few parallels.

Where the film has attracted criticism is over the alleged anachronism in Colin Firth's performance. I beg to disagree. Putting animals on trial was not accepted universally in Europe, and was not enjoined by the Church at all. Contemporary people could and did disagree with it in principle, otherwise it would have spread all over the Catholic world. Young lawyers were legendary for their promiscuity.

People could and did bridge the divide between those outside society and those within it, and in certain realms and in certain reigns this was actively encouraged. City people did disdain the countryside. Humanity was less tender than now but charity of all kinds was encouraged, and where Church Law appeared to limit kindness, there were people ready to ridicule the Church.

Firth's performance smacks of the Age of Petrarch and Boccaccio, and indeed the Canterbury Tales, where irony enabled a new free thinking under the nose of the Inquisition. His depiction of the young generous idealist who is lusty, self-seeking, obtuse and arrogant is a depiction of a type of person throughout recorded history.

The incredible detail in the film gives a rightness to the production rarely seen in films of this category - the back cloth to the mystery play is a medieval wonder in itself. The town itself seems a tad small to warrant resident advocates but this is a very minor detail. The inn acting as a brothel is a good touch.

The calamitous XIV Century was one of popular revolt and a refusal to accept the iniquities of the class system. This film, with the ominous threat of the Back Death advancing in the background, evokes those uneasy times with a relaxed sureness that makes it a real gem

The Hour Of The Pig - It's not a hamburger, take it with savoir vivre.

[Fred-Hubner · 13 February 2005]

This film masterly deals with a very specific moment in the history of Western Christianity. It's not just the Medieval Ages .. since, in a generally accepted timetable, it started circa 450 AD and lasted 'til the rise of the Absolute Monarchies ... it depicts a moment of transition. The already settled upsurging process in which feudal cities would develop as independent political entities under the rule of a central monarchy ... a moment in which France's bourgeoisie starts to position itself as a major political and economical partner/supporter of a highly centralized monarchy in opposition to the decentralized political organization championed by feudal lords. A struggle which would, eventually in future times, determine how law and order should be imposed to society and the consequential encroachment of a national state. So, this film's story happens in the waning of French feudalism as a source of political and economical power. You must never forget that what is shown in this film as the feudal lord's privileges were once, in a then very recent past, the rule ... the French Revolution is still centuries away ... and not a trace yet of the Thirteen Colonies ... but now, that's all history.

Yeah ... yeah, it's a fiction alright ... a fiction loosely based on real legal reports of the Middle Age ... so yes, the things you'll see not just could have happened ... but eventually, and quite oftenly I should add, did actually happen very much in the same fashion exposed in this great film. By now you must be asking yourself ... why in the world is this guy beating around the bush for ?! ... and in my usual high style manner I would answer: Simply because without the previous historical pinpointing you would miss all the possible readings this film has to offer and the much needed gap filling. ... Furthermore, in case you're; yes you my dear reader, a High School student, don't even try to argue or use the info contained in this review in a school debate or essay ... firstly, it might be too specific for the common knowledge of most High School teachers ... and secondly, you obviously lack a yielding background knowledge to support it.

Most reviewers, including high ranking pros, missed the point completely as to what concerns this film ... one of them pros took it has a comedy and simply compared it to Mounty Python And The Holy Grail ... oh c'mon, how unreal can you get ?!!! The Hour Of The Pig does have some 'laughable moments' ... so does Reservoir Dogs ... but most of such moments will be laughed at based on our 21st Century understanding of reality and common sense. In spite the 'laughable moments', it's not a comedy ... it's a thriller. Some other reviewers, pros included, preferred comparing it to The Name Of The Rose. Such comparison is pure fallacy in all senses. I've seen the film and I've read the book ... the great result of erudite and throughout historical research, most specifically as to what concerns past and then still ongoing theological debates and disputes. Jean-Jacques Annaud somehow managed to destroy Umberto Eco's story and turned it into an overrated and underscored whodunit. The Hour Of The Pig is more of a what-the-heck-is-happening-here kind of thriller story ... and as the film unfolds, you'll be shown a very detailed and carefully crafted epoch re-enactment of everyday life in those times.

Basically the plot spirals around the ongoing dispute for the exercise of power (fiefdom versus highly centralized monarchies) staged in the trial of a domestic animal ... ultimately, a struggle for the upper hand in controlling the means, resources and legitimacy to impose fear upon society in general. 'It is the curse of our times ... gentlemen ... not the black death ... but fear ' says Pincheon as if previewing Thomas Hobbes by quite a few years. The Renaissance has been going on for more than a century already. The world was changing but not changed yet ... and such clash would still go on for centuries ahead. Leslie Megahey's competent approach as a director and scriptwriter has acquired for this film a stand alone feature. It's not a hamburger, take it with savoir vivre.

One of the funniest movies I've seen!

[kris_imdb · 10 July 2002]

This movie is one of the funniest movies I've seen! However, the humor is very dark. The first scene of the movie suffices to give you the flavor of the rest of it. So, if after the first scene, you are disgusted, or not laughing, you might want to return the movie.

Exploration of deceptive world

[Vincentiu · 15 January 2007]

Beautiful exploration of premodern atmosphere, of time's masks and of faith. Show in rule's body and ambiguity of innocence. Signs, symbols and respiration of a era. Misticism, sin and a strange advocate lost in a deceptive world.

A great character in Ian Holm acting and subtle recreation of gestures of every period. At first sight, the love is only motive of characters actions. Love for law, for power or money, prestige or personal image, for ideal or for a woman. But, the essence is the sin, like result of corruption, hypocrisy and prejudices. Richard Curtois is not only an outsider, the stranger but principal danger for community. The desertion of Paris is capital error . The endeavor to move life in his rational limits- a cruel blasphemy. Image of his failure is not the departure, but the presence of father Albertus in a place who destroys every innocence's shadow.

In spite of atmosphere, it is not a historical film. The reality after September 11 is Medieval in same measure and same saving knight is expecting.