Review of The Crucible

The Crucible is a 1996 film directed by Nicolas Hytner, screenplay by Arthur Miller and starring Daniel-Day Lewis, Winona Ryder and Paul Scofield. The topic of witch trials or witch hunts has been relevant to Hollywood for many years, whether adapted from Salem or inspired by Salem, none does it like Arthur Miller's script for the Crucible. While the Salem Witch Trials is something we look back in the past and we think 'Oh, that's silly' and we look at the ancient quirks of people falsely accusing other people of witchcraft, which we can resoundingly say, was just absolutely ridiculous. However, the trials aren't the main plotline in 'The Crucible', it is merely a catalyst to reveal the basic human flaws that we all have and how we humans grow in numbers whether morally wrong or not; very historically relevant then and still contextually relevant. The movie begins a group of young girls having a wild party in the woods near Salem, the Massachusetts village where they live, complete with erotic dancing and fantasies about magic spells aimed at people they don't like. Caught in the act by Reverend Parris, and hauled before the strict elders of their community, they blame the devil for their crimes. To strengthen their defense, they launch a smear campaign against various local women, accusing them of witchcraft and consorting with the forces of evil. Their accusations caused alarms in the citizens, and the accusation spreads, causing the whole town to an uproar. The story takes a turn when we are introduced to John Proctor, a farmer with a good reputation who'd had an illicit relationship with Abigail Williams one of the girls in the wild party, and her true intentions on starting the witch trials are revealed. Daniel-Day Lewis plays John Proctor and he is his usual self here, amazing; emotionally delivering every line with the prominent sentiment, and perhaps providing one of the most emotionally shaking monologues in his career, where we could feel his aura through the screen. Winona Ryder plays Abigail Williams, and she plays the antagonist perfectly. Balancing the sense of teenage idiocy with true human evil, where she actually made me hate her, genuinely, I despise Abigail William even more after watching the movie. Stand-out performances for me, is Rob Campell as Reverend Hale, and Joan Allen as Elizabeth Proctor. While some of the characters felt fake and dramatized/artificial, Hale and Elizabeth Proctor seemed the most real for, they seemed like actual people and all their decisions and reactions to dilemmas seemed rational. Continuing on the artificiality of the characters, the movie takes place in 17th Century Massachusetts, and I'll admit, it is hard to portray a society that was in the background of the history books, but all of the characters play to stereotypical actions and accents of a typical renaissance British person, running, screaming and scurrying around as if they know they're in a movie. Main characters are also outshined by their co-stars most of the time. Judge Danforth had one good scene where he talked to Elizabeth Proctor in court, but all his other scenes he is outshined by either Hale or John Proctor, lacking any real sense of humanity and just looked like a typical big authority figure. In addition to the artificiality of the characters, the film lacks weight behind the climax as they don't seem urgent or... climatic at all. The true climax is John Proctor's monologue, where it is supposed to be the trials itself. The movie lacks subtlety, still not climatic in the third act, but we can see Hytner, desperately attempting to make it more dramatic; kicking the score to unreasonable amounts of drama and using a lot of action shots, as if the plot itself wasn't invigorating enough. A good example of subtlety that could've done better if some of the more emotional scenes were just silent, no need for background music, and he does it well with the last scene, where we just hear a creak then it fades to black. In conclusion, the Crucible is a good film that could've been great, they have outstanding performances by lead and supporting characters, which I think overshadows some of the worse performances. Creative pacing is an issue but is helped by Arthur Miller's incredible script and dramatisation of the original story itself. So overall I would give The Crucible a B-.