The Background of "The Witch" Movie

The Witch: A New England Folktale (2015), directed by Robert Eggers was first released in January 2015 set around New England before the Salem witch trials. The film is centered on an Anabaptist family banished from their farmstead in the Puritan colony. Following its historical setting, the film incorporates many themes of spirituality, sin, and the devil through cinema techniques. 

The Witch sets its story strongly within the historical background of Puritanical enthusiasm and spirituality. The film immerses viewers in a society dominated by strict religious beliefs and the continual fear of sin and the devil against the backdrop of a harsh and brutal wilderness. The film powerfully depicts the religious enthusiasm and rigorous moral code prevailing at the time with great attention to historical detail. Spiritual themes remain strong as the protagonists struggle with inner conflicts and the unrelenting search for purity in a society filled with temptation. The film's disturbing depiction of the family's spiral into paranoia and spiritual sorrow serves as a harsh reminder of the frailty of religion and the ever-present threat of evil in an era defined by deep religious views.

Anabaptism is a movement that emerged between 1520 and 1530 in some parts of Western Europe, influenced by the 16th-century reform movement. Anabaptists were born as a group that opposed the authority of Catholics and Protestants in the Christian world and advocated a return to the Bible. The basic view of Anabaptism which means “baptize again” claims that infant baptism is not the true way to baptize and therefore baptisms performed so far are not valid. In the movie The Witch, the baby character Samual is not baptized because the father William is an anabaptist and it is caused because the mother Katherine rejects William's ideas and expresses that he has caused Samual to be forever condemned since he was not baptized.