The idea for the film came from George A. Romero while working on television, where he shot commercials and programs. Then he read about witchcraft and learned about the feminist movement, gaining momentum in America. The symbiosis of the two components gave rise to the story of the future picture, which the author himself characterized as a “feminist film” and “not quite” horror. The fact is that this production is exclusively female, exploring the nature of the beautiful half of humanity with all hidden desires and anxieties. It also touches on the social trends of their years, when in popular culture, ladies began to declare equal rights, so as not to be an unwitting addition to her husband, silently and submissively following behind him, reading the newspaper enthusiastically, as if on his heels is a tacky dog on an invisible leash - with such images of the painful dream of the main character begins the film.
The title of the film “Witch Time”, chosen in honor of the song of the same name by the Scottish musician Donovan, sounding in one of the scenes, can partly be interpreted as “Pore Meger”, which perfectly characterizes the female microcosm of a small town where older middle-class ladies are bored. The director with his characteristic veiled satire demonstrates on the screen modern witches in the most literal and figurative sense of the word, which are going to ritual sabbaths in the form of boring parties in houses to endlessly gossip and splash bile from discontent, being left behind the life of new generations, already forming the world for themselves, rejecting the old foundations. They are left to grumble, get drunk, wash bones and magic, doing it more out of boredom than from the desire to truly learn from maps the future. And what can it be for deeply unhappy snide personalities who are not yet completely decrepit old women, but are not able to enjoy every day, being in harmony with their age, rejoicing in the measured autumn of life? This is the tragedy and the main conflict of productions, forming a psychological thriller and social drama at the same time.
The film, being absolutely conversational and with heavy timekeeping for more than two hours, is in no hurry to move to mysticism, which is also very conditional. The basis of the story is reserved for the transfer to the screen of the internal anxieties of the main character, concerned about age and social changes, when the reflection in the mirror is increasingly depressing, the husband looks through her, not not even noticing a spot of soot on her forehead, the daughter turned into a flowering girl, overshadowing the freshness and youth of an elegant mother in dresses and cosmetics. The child found beauty, his own opinion, willfulness, friend, quite legal solitude with him and adult life without parental authority, depriving the woman of the last important status of mother. Romero very clearly demonstrates on the screen a multi-layered tangle of female dissatisfaction, when all the most exciting things are left behind, and at home it is terribly lonely in the presence in the next room of an adult daughter and a husband on the side of the bed, who has lost all interest in his wife – personality and woman. The iconic working title of the picture sounded “Jack’s Wife”, because for her husband she is exactly an unnamed appendage nearby: free ears at breakfast, listening to problems at work, a dummy with a beautiful hairstyle and in elegant outfits, which should be shown to guests at dinner parties, and also a boxing pear, which can be whipped on the cheeks, counting on the antics of a cocky daughter.
It’s no coincidence that the characters mention two recent hits: Rosemary’s Baby and The Graduate. The first picture is very consonant with the paranoid atmosphere of mysticism invisible to the eye, reducing the supernatural into a reflection of spiritual experiences resembling nightmares in dreams and reality: in dreams, a dark silhouette chases a woman in a terrible mask, as if a biblical tempter is about to overtake, releasing the restrained by puritanical morality, but in reality she is strangled by the environment of a grumpy friend who causes disgust, pity and one day become such. Ideological intimacy with the second tape lies in similar female archetypes, because like the famous Mrs. Robinson, our heroine is also quite beautiful and seductive, but goes beyond the Rubicon of a banal affair with a young guy to retouch this for a while personal crisis. Magic comes into play - secret knowledge rooted in the tradition of witchcraft, allowing a woman to awaken the primordial nature in herself, becoming strong, confident, seductive and not afraid of all this, which is much more natural than the helpless chatter of a psychologist or the stupid gossip of similar neighbors. In Romero’s interpretation, becoming a witch, proudly saying it, uttering all her natural needs without a shadow of doubt or shame for them, a woman seems to turn into that feminin, finding harmony with the inner and surrounding world, beginning to listen to feelings, drawing strength from the bowels of herself. And mysticism is not at all in the witchcraft of a book bought with the deliberately ridiculous title How to Become a Witch, not in a taboo relationship with a young lover, but in his call to be honest with him and herself, which gives determination to a woman who wants to feel desirable, independent, important and confident at any age, let her be called a witch or even worse – a feminist, doing it out of envy and fear of not coping with such a self-sufficient lady.
In Romero’s work, this work is usually bypassed and it is really not the most successful – the lack of conciseness in the presentation of the material, the controversial combination of paranoid with social, psychological thriller with everyday drama and satire with a small touch of occult mysticism. However, the film is quite curious, raising topical issues to this day, in some ways is a precursor to the classic film adaptation of Stepford Wives, perfectly shot by the director himself in interesting angles, and also adequately played by theater artists and non-professionals, creating the necessary effect of a reliable immersion in everyday history, as if happening somewhere nearby.
6 out of 10