The Devil

Andrzej Zulawski's 'The Devil' is a real oddity from the early 1970s. Originally released in 1972, but banned at the behest of the Catholic church, it has been little seen, which is a pity, because it is a fascinating movie that deserves a larger audience. Reminiscent at times of Jodorowsky and sometimes Fellini, this is a very puzzling movie steeped in religious symbolism.

In 18th Century Poland the Prussian army are in the process of conquering the country. In the midst of this chaos a mysterious figure arrives at a convent with orders to escort a political prisoner. The prisoner, a young man named Jakub, was accused of attempting to murder the King. The man finds Jakub, and along with a young nun they flee the oncoming troops. Once they are safe Jakub is freed and urged to return home. When he arrives he finds that nothing is as before. His father burnt down the family home before committing suicide, his pregnant fiancee has married one of his friends, and his mother is a whore. Jakub is constantly described by others as being a lunatic or "sick" yet in many ways he appears to be the sanest one of the lot. To complicate matters the man who initially rescued him shadows his every move and seems to have a strange agenda of his own. Is Jakub mad or is the world? Who is the enigmatic stranger and what does he want of Jakub? 'The Devil' will appeal to fans of strange, multi-layered movies.

The previous poster calls the cruelty at display in this film "inhuman". Oh really? How come then that people slaughter people, gouge their eyes out, cut their limbs or burn them alive? Or torture them? Or rape and mutilate women? He should read some reports about practices during the Bosnian war or wars in Africa, about the stuff people have been doing to other people for ages, for reasons like religion, greed or lust. Or for no reasons at all. It took real "balls" or creative guts from the filmmaker to do a film like that. I am fed up with the political correctness and general blandness of films, caused by the requirements of market and profits, or by mere cowardliness. I could understand criticism of the cruelty if it was purely gratuitous but it is not. This film has artistic values and touches upon important topics. I am happy it was not destroyed and all copies not locked up somewhere. It could probably happen in Hollywood or in the lands like Iran.

I wouldn't call this horror at least not in the traditional sense. Jakob freed from jail tries to return to his previous life with a aid who has his own agenda. The Devil is in the details indeed as you the viewer are forced to play catch up with a series of events that must be interpreted to understand the craziness and violence this movie portrays.

There is in impatience that plagues every event along with musical scores that tries as it does to build tempo and rhythm to the maniacal. Does it really matter who Jacob was? Butchery to betrayal, the nun and a whole lot of death and suffering all wrapped up in a wacky 70's score. Best not to leave out that almost every character is full of self loathing.

Not sure if I'd watch it twice though, the dialog isn't very captivating and the story isn't really what you are here for. You watch it because someone didn't want you to see something with a powerful political message. Like having your world turned upside down. So you'll watch it like I did, hoping to find something everyone else missed.

The devil epileptically dancing the beauty of the world in front of the eyes of a dying man, the victim of his deceit and evil schemes, how cruel, ironic and jaw-droppingly macabre that can be... and the dark blue unctuous atmosphere, the claustrophobic feeling that the mazy woods, the snow give despite the haywire dynamics in an open landscape, people like pawns spinning on a chessboard manipulated and controlled through their weaknesses by master puppeteers who use lust and envy and madness as levers of their domination, God represented by the constant presence of the nun, witnessing with a neutral frozen mercifulness the gyratory display of human delirium and the devil's catalytic actions.. I know now that only after seeing this sublime film and being impacted by it I've became a true Żuławski fan

In Poland, a mysterious man comes to a chaotic convent to bring to Warsaw the nobleman political prisoner Jakub (Leszek Teleszynski) that imprisoned in the dungeons. The stranger requests the list of fellow conspirators to Jakub and abducts a nun to travel with Jakub in his journey back home. When he arrives in his destroyed house, he sees his father dead; his sister abused and insane; his mother in a brothel; and his girlfriend pregnant and living with his former best friend. Jakub becomes deranged and using a razor delivered by the stranger, he kills each sinner, in an irrational period of chaos and moral degradation.

"Diabel" is a messy, pointless and violent journey to insanity. The writer and director Andrzej Zulawski makes a dreadful film, with a screenplay that does not tell the milestone when the story takes place. In accordance with the DVD cover, the period is 1793, during the invasion of Poland by the Prussian army. The performances are histrionic and theatrical, and the violence is stupid with the only intention of shocking the audience. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Diabel"