The Witch (2015)

Subtitle: A New-England Folktale

Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw
Written and directed by Robert Eggers

This film was mentioned in a thread at the Catholic messageboard I visit in a discussion of how religion, treated respectfully, can play a key role.  I decided to check it out through Netflix.

There are spoilers below the cut.
The opening scene is of William and his family lined up before the elders of the colony in New England, with other colonists behind them observing.  William is defending his interpretation of the Gospel and condemning that of the elders.  They give him a chance to recant, but when he refuses, he is expelled along with his family, his wife Katherine, daughter Thomasin, son Caleb, and fraternal twins Jonas and Mercy.

The family goes off into the wilderness to make a new life free to live according to their own interpretation of the Gospel.  They find a site on the edge of a forest and make a home.  The film then jumps a year or so into the future.  A cottage has been built along with farm buildings.  Crops are growing.  And William and Katherine have a baby son, Samuel.  Thomasin, who is already a woman, is given the baby to watch over.  She plays peekaboo with young Sam; she hides her face and upon pulling back her hands, she sees the baby has disappeared.

Things for the family start to go downhill from here (though it is made clear from dialogue that the crops were already failing).

Robert Eggers' story is very well put together.  Unless the viewer is expecting the usual horror shenanigans, the film is not boring.  It is very atmospheric.  According to Wikipedia, only natural light was used.  Indoors the characters are a lot of the time sitting in the dark except for candles.  It is almost always cloudy and gray, so what little light coming in from outside is hardly adequate during the day.  Outdoors it is not much better and once the characters start moving into the woods, it is not only dark, but claustrophobic.

The religious elements are very important.  The father William is firm in his interpretation of the Gospel: all are sinners doomed to hell without grace which can only be provided by God through His son Jesus.  When he and his son Caleb are out hunting, William has Caleb recite key elements of the Faith.  Caleb is doubting though.  Not that God exists, but if they are all doomed to hell since young Samuel was not baptized yet when he disappeared.  If an innocent little babe is going to hell, why not everyone else, confirmed sinners?  Back at home, the mother Katherine is having a crisis of her own.  Having lost her child, she is not getting much sleep as she whispers prayers in bed through the night.

The witchcraft element is very well handled.  It is not clear until the end just who or what is behind what is happening to the family.  There are strange omens and portents.

Highly recommended.