The Reckoning (2002)

The Reckoning: Directed by Paul McGuigan. With Paul Bettany, Marián Aguilera, Trevor Steedman, Simon McBurney. A priest on the lam takes up with a traveling band of actors, who then discover a murder has occurred and try to solve it by recreating the crime in a play.

“Iu0026#39;ve watched this movie 4 times in the last three days, and Iu0026#39;m still not sure Iu0026#39;ve grokked all of its subtleties yet. Beautiful, yes — the village set is a series of enclosures, mazes within mazes, that contribute to the entrapped mood surrounding the characters. Even in the scenes outside the village, the woods and hills close in around the actors, like the enfolding wings and backdrops of a stage. The closeups are unsettlingly revealing – filthy fingers with smooth nails using a sharp, rough flint to cut hair down to the scalp….dark eyes revealing everything and nothing….a hand laid caressingly near the jugular….strong fingers….and Paul Bettanyu0026#39;s disturbing blue eyes. I canu0026#39;t say enough about Bettanyu0026#39;s take on the outcast priest — he manages moral outrage and submissive pathos with equal ease, and his smiles always have a hint of tears behind them. A haunting performance — I would go across the world to see Bettany play Hamlet or Macbeth.”