Title: Two Worlds: The Witch

Review: Two Worlds: The Witch

Medieval towns and villages, a series of brutal murders, an enraged mob, a witch and bloodthirsty nymphs. This is how "The Witch", which was created by the duo of Karol Weber and Artur Biernacki, can be summed up in a nutshell.

The screenwriter, Weber, weaves a lot of familiar literary motifs into the story, but plays them in an unconventional way. Thus, there is a legend/tale of a good king, who, inversely to Piast Kołodziej, from the court state became a peasant and settled among his former subjects. Already the character of the king, although episodic, is ambiguous – for he gives up the kingdom without a fight in order to save the lives of those closest to him, which, we would say, is worthy of a father of a family, but unworthy of a king. So the author plays with characters, and by showing a whole range of colorful characters, he ensures that they are multidimensional. Let us take as an example the rider Orin, who seems to be a hero with pure intentions, and, as it turns out, he too has his darker sides, including entanglement in a love triangle. We also have the village chief, who, after all, is dedicatedly caring for his village, and yet....

Into the plot this time Weber weaves creatures from the borderland of worlds: mythical, perhaps legendary, led by the Witch of the title. All this makes the atmosphere of the story what we expect from a time travel to the Middle Ages: the sacred mixes with the profane, the belief in magical powers is alive, and at the same time dangerous creatures native to Slavic bestiaries roam the woods.

There is no shortage in this story of familiar false accusations, and of course there is a savior on horseback (not necessarily a white one), but what draws attention is the intricate plot based on family connections. This, in turn, proves that the screenwriter has thought the story through, planned it out, and created full characters with character traits.

Perfectly in the atmosphere of a medieval story with fantasy motifs played here the duo with illustrator Artur Biernacki. The artist's style, his strong line, realistic and at the same time non-obvious style, works well in this dark story. In particular, the frames in which he shows the winter outdoors are incredibly impressive – Biernacki handles shadows very well, making the snow-covered village resemble the best painterly landscapes.

If only for these artistic pleasures it is worth reaching for "The Witch". It is also worth it because the universe of "Two Worlds" is a well thought-out and interesting story in terms of plot.

MK