''The Burning Times'' is a 1990

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

, presenting a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

account of the Early Modern European witchcraft trials.''Toronto Globe and Mail'', June 12, 1991 ''"Religion"'' by Jack Kapica, "Review of The Burning Times" transcribed at http://www.debunker.com/texts/burning_times.html retrieved on August 24, 2006 It was directed by Donna Read and written by Erna Buffie, and features interviews with

and

Neopagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, spans a range of new religious movements variously influenced by the beliefs of pre-modern peoples across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. Despite some common simila ...

notables, such as Starhawk,

Margot Adler Margot Susanna Adler (April 16, 1946 – July 28, 2014) was an American author, journalist, and lecturer. She worked as a correspondent for National Public Radio for 35 years, became bureau chief of the New York office, and could be heard frequen ...

, and

Matthew Fox Matthew Chandler Fox (born July 14, 1966) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Charlie Salinger on '' Party of Five'' (1994–2000) and Jack Shephard on the drama series '' Lost'' (2004–2010), the latter of which earned him G ...

. ''The Burning Times'' is the second film in the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

's ''Women and Spirituality'' series, following '' Goddess Remembered'' (1989) and preceding '' Full Circle'' (1993). The opening and closing theme music, composed by

Loreena McKennitt Loreena McKennitt (born February 17, 1957) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who writes, records, and performs world music with Celtic music, Celtic and Middle Eastern music, Middle Eastern influences. McKenni ...

, was released as the track titled "Tango to Evora" on her 1991 album '' The Visit''.

Criticism

Numbers of women killed

In the film, Thea Jensen calls this period in history a "Women's Holocaust". She notes that a total number of victims is unknown but that the high number often given is nine million deaths, over a period of 300 or more years. Otherwise, scholarly "high" estimates range around 100,000, with estimates around 60,000 more common. The nine million figure, according to modern scholarship, originates with a 1784 article by Gottfried Christian Voigt, in which he estimates the figure of 9,442,994 executions between AD 600 and 1700 - a period of 1,100 years - unsupported by any evidence.Adler has since claimed that the figure is untenable: "We now know that most persecutions of witches occurred during a 100-year period, between 1550 and 1650, and the total number hanged or burned probably did not exceed 40,000.

he continues "...it serves no end to perpetuate the miscalculation; it's time to put away the exaggerated numbers forever.

Criticisms of the Catholic Church

According to William Donohue and Robert Eady of the Catholic Civil Rights League, the movie is inaccurate in other respects, ''e.g.'', placing

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

instead of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and dating a stone cross there that is recorded to have been erected in 958 AD to 1132 AD without further explanation. The cross is shown as a "symbol of a new religious cult that was sweeping across Europe," despite Christian presence since 286. Eady, a member of the League in Canada, has cited the film in a complaint to broadcast regulators, in particular mentioning offense at the movie's quote: "it took the Church two hundred years of terror and death to transform the image of paganism into devil worship, and folk culture into heresy." Eady describes the documentary as propaganda intended to represent the Christian Church as "a wicked, patriarchal,

misogynist Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practised ...

institution". Jack Kapica adds "Women have genuine grievances with the Church. ''The Burning Times'', however, is not going to help their cause."

References

External links

''The Burning Times''
at the

(requires

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a mostly discontinuedAlthough it is discontinued by Adobe Inc., for the Chinese market it is developed by Zhongcheng and for the international enterprise market it is developed by Ha ...

) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burning Times, The 1990 films National Film Board of Canada documentaries Early Modern witch hunts 1990s feminist films Documentary films about violence against women Films about Wicca 1990 documentary films 1990s supernatural films 1990s in modern paganism 1990s English-language films 1990s Canadian films English-language documentary films