Haxan (1922)

Benjamin Christensen's "Haxan"

While Robert J. Flaherty was inventing the documentary style structure with his 1922 film "Nanook of the North," Benjamin Christensen was creating the 'essay film' in the same year with "Haxan." Containing both a documentary-style story structure as well as dramatized narrative sequences, the film recounts the historical roots of superstitions surrounding witchcraft. Although the film was well received within its own country, many other countries, such as Germany, France, and the United States, banned the film because of its salacious depictions torture, nudity, sexual perversion, and anti-Catholicism. The film itself hints that the real demons of history are the church, not any sort of real actual witches or demons. However, in the later part of the 20th century, the film was rediscovered via restoration processes. Through this rediscovery, many film historians view it as Christensen's masterpiece, citing his combination of documentary-style and narrative storytelling as well as its visual imagery. 

The film is divided into seven parts. Part one presents a scholarly dissertation on historical drawings and perceptions about demons and witches as they appear in medieval culture. The part uses actual medieval photographs, as well as contemporary scale models of medieval ideas. Part two is a series of vignettes that sees performers enacting how people thought Satan tempted those who fell under his alluring spell. Parts three through five are a narrative set in the middle ages demonstrating how the church cornered people into being witches, often providing no other choice to these poor accused. It seems as though if the church believed you to be a witch for whatever preposterous reason, you were trapped between two choices, confessing you are a witch and being burned at the stake, or refuse to cave in to their accusations and be tortured until you die. The film accuses the Catholic church of being a 'spiritual plague' for this reason. Parts six and seven demonstrate how certain superstitions could be better understood. Many hysterical behaviors, often accompanied by supposed witchcraft or devil work, could be boiled down to psychosis. 

Many film historians believe the film to be thematically focused on both oppression and repression. The oppression presented in the film is always the oppression of women. Because of this, academic Chloe Germaine Buckley has described the film as 'quasi-feminist.' Because the church seems to be readily aware that they are deceptively trapping innocent women to a doomed fate, the narrative demonstrates how those in power use fear and ideological misconceptions to oppress. Because the church is able to propagate negative stereotypes by women, such as witches consuming infants or transforming into animals, they have essentially illegitimated any perceptions of female power, according to Buckley. Per Buckley's writings, "the evil witch stereotype has become such a convenient tool for the propagation of misogynistic ideas." The film also focuses on repression as well. This repression takes the form of the church's repression of its member's sexuality and freedom of expression. Author Alain Silver believes that through the events represented, the film suggests that the sexual repression by the priests and nuns only leads to explosive or violent behavior. When one priest is tempted sexually by a maid, he confesses to his fellow priests so that they may not only whip him for his sins, but burn the woman at the stake on accusations of her witchy enchantments. A scene in which nuns decide to go wildly insane also demonstrates sexual repression. Silver states that the seemingly demonic possession attributes to the "unnatural sexual continence that is demanded of the nuns. The film therefore follows a broadly Freudian line in linking possession to hysteria. The basis of this idea is that repressed sexual desires are dynamic and, rather than lying dormant, actively find ways of being fulfilled in exaggerated and extreme ways." 

When Haxan was finally released in the United States in 1929, the film was considered controversial. Many watching the film were aghast by the untamed depiction of satanic rituals, as the film often depicted many grotesque depictions of demons and witches performing perverted behaviors. Despite its unflinching depiction of the unruly, Haxan developed a cult following. Many surrealists at the time admired the film for its subversions of cultural norms. On top of that, the film only expanded in admiration throughout the decades. The episodic nature, as well as its unparalleled use of the essay format, created a unique experience that would inspire films to come. It's combinations of fiction, documentation, and animation provided an aesthetic that considered the limitless boundaries of the film medium.