FLAVIA THE HERETIC 1974 aka FLAVIA, PRIESTESS OF VIOLENCE
Florinda Balkan
In 17th century Italy, a young girl sees her father massacre a group of people supposedly against the church. After bearing witness to this event, Flavia's father has her imprisoned inside a monastery where, after seeing many atrocities committed by men, Flavia develops a hatred for them and later joins a Muslim warrior in his fight against the Christians.
What an interesting movie. An amalgamation of historical epic and exploitation motifs, the film is probably the most gorgeously photographed film of its kind I've seen. The landscapes and countrysides are perfectly captured and are beautifully captured on Synapse's remastered DVD.
Balkan is excellent as the rebel nun/freedom fighter Flavia. She exudes a strong, liberated presence equal to any man. Through the course of the film we witness her gradual change from a believer in the church to questioning it's methods and agendas as well as her own personal beliefs.
There is a lot of gore in this movie but it is not necessarily an exploitation film perse although it contains elements of the nunsploitation movies only it doesn't quite go as far as some of those films do. Aside from its historical trappings, there are a number of gruesome moments such as victims being executed from large spears slowly shoved up their rectums, rape, nipple slicing and a cringe inducing skin flayling at the end are reason enough to check it out. Any fan of Italian sleaze should see it although don't go in expecting a non-stop blood and nudity fest as this one is much more than that. In fact, the absolutely professional sheen Mingozzi displays here is somewhat at odds with the scenes of extreme violence. A nice change of pace for Italo horror fans.
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Topic: Flavia the Heretic (Gianfranco Mingozzi, 1974) (Read 6785 times)