Paul Scofield

(In French, On Cable TV, September 2021) If the COVID-19 pandemic has made one thing clearer than ever, it’s that the veneer of contemporary education and knowledge is often an illusion. Basic scientific fact gets ignored the moment it confronts political ideology or personal comfort, and it doesn’t take much more than a dumb Facebook post to get people acting in self-destructive ways. The parallels with witch-hunt drama The Crucible, in other words, remain evergreen. Here we have several young women, led by a highly motivated leader, making up accusations of witchcraft against people they don’t like. By definition unfalsifiable, those accusations spread like wildfire through the small New England community, condemning people to death for not good reason. Made from a script by Arthur Miller, adapting his own classic McCarthy-era play to the big screen, The Crucible does have a timeless quality in-between its period setting and powerful themes. It helps that the infuriating subject matter is handled by powerhouse actors — In-between Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Scofield and Joan Allen, Winona Ryder looks like an amateur despite doing very well for herself. The period recreation is credible, and the cranking of the tension to its inevitable end is effectively done. Clearly meant to provoke crowds, The Crucible remains very effective today. Alas.