The plot is decent and the actresses are very good; I recommend it if you are a fan of Spanish movies.

SOME SPOILERS AHEAD This movie didn't put me to sleep actually it kept me awake until the end. The synopsis of the film and preliminary plot unfolding seemed to be quite similar to other witchhunt films but as I continued to watch I realized this was a much different film. Somewhat like watching Apocalypto where the events on the screen tell a story about humanity and simultaneously a folk tale with a moral compass. The innocent girls accused of witchcraft and the typical zealot inquisitors at first seem contrived. But as the story progresses the girls through an effort to survive their inevitable burning, make up tales of witchcraft based on their adventures. The lead actress begins to seduce the main Inquisitor actually bewitching him in a way. In one scene as she describes the Sabbath she talks about Satan taking her over and makes orgasmic sounds which cause the priests and guards to become uncomfortably aroused. Finally the inquisitor submits and brings them to the woods to summon Lucifer. As the viewer watches we see the churches own inquisitor give in to his desires, in effect becoming Satan as conjured which in turn makes the girls real witches in a way. The ending leaves the veiwer wondering if they watched a brutal medieval film or a fairy tale. Did the girls really become the witches they made up and fly away?

For me it was a bit of both with the director never going over the top and giving the viewer just enough. The violence and torture was never excessive but very measured. There is brief nudity by the main actress Amaia Aberasturi but just enough to get the point across. Suprising little gem of a film with alot of imagination. Yes there are some flaws here and there but worth a watch. Love the ending alot especially the editing it was poetic. Well written and well acted. Many of the negative reviewers seemed to go in expecting horror or period drama but this is neither it's a folk tale.

I don't know if everyone here understood the purpose of this movie. I think the main issue is language. The girls speak Basque. And some of the women who work in the prison where the girls were held accused of witchcraft also speak Basque. But the Inquisitors speak only Spanish. So what happens is the girls come up with a way to delay their almost certain death at the stake until the village fishermen come back from the sea and can save them. This fails and then enters the second and most difficult to understand part of the film. As the girls recreate the ritual for the inquisitor and are surrounded on the edge of the abyss, something subtle but extremely important to understand the film occurs: the women employed by the inquisitor sing a song suggesting that on a full moon night the tide is high. Soon after that the girls throw themselves into the sea. Most people must have thought they died. The inquisitor claims that they fled by flying. Both possibilities are wrong in my view. I believe that by throwing themselves at high tide the girls escaped death, thanks to the music sung by the working women of the prison. A tip that was passed on in Basque unbeknownst to the Inquisitors.