Everything in the setting and art direction of this nicely done dramatic mystery is of Academy Award caliber, so why was it not nominated? It should have been.The plot is simple but handled in a most perceptive and well-conceived manner, and makes for a riveting tale, with superb performances by nearly everyone involved. A murder mystery set in the 13th century in England, of course with the dangerous politics of aristocracy as fodder.The fault of this film is in the portrayal of the villain, who is lacking in development and nothing more than a one-dimensional Simon Legree. One fully expects him to pull his mustache and cackle. His eventual downfall is welcome, but handled in way that just seems unrealistic for the times.Here is a fellow who is suspected of planning a revolt against the King of England, yet he only has about 6 knights in his stable when push comes to shove? What? Then the angry villagers burn down the gigantic castle, which was the size of about the rest of the town. Right, they'd prefer to just burn it down rather than use it.Other than that, a great film.

Few films have managed to depict the Medieval period so well as this one. The dirt, the illnesses, shabby clothes, prejudices, terrible witch hunting's - all is here and well shown. Willem Defoe is a great choice for the main role, as well as unusually silent Vincent Cassdel, who play a traveling comedian and a terrible landlord respectively. The plot is also good - a sinned priest is on the run, he joins the traveling actors troupe and together they come to a small town, where a woman is going to be hanged for alleged child murder. The actors decide to learn the truth and finally they stage a play impromptu showing the real events of that blood chilling murder. What is bad in this film is a very slow tempo and really tedious dialogs so often. Pity, this film could have been much better...

In 1380, in England, after committing two capital sins, the priest Nicholas (Paul Bettany) leaves the habit and joins a troupe of players leaded by Martin (Willen Dafoe). The group arrives in a small village in the lands of Lord De Guise (Vincent Cassel), where a boy has been recently murdered. Martin convinces the players to perform the crime on the stage, and Nicholas finds the hidden truth about the mysterious death.A couple of days ago I saw the trailer of "The Reckoning", I liked and I decided to see this movie. What a great surprise! The riveting story is very well directed and acted, with another spectacular performance of this great actor Paul Bettany; has an original screenplay, with a dramatic full of mystery story and excellent lines and dialogs. I particularly liked the definition of the cynical Lord De Guise, something like "that between faith and reason lays the true God: power". There is a great mistake about 96 minutes, when Lord De Guise is discussing with Nicholas, and his lips are not moving in a certain shot. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Um Crime de Paixão" ("A Crime of Passion")

Nikolas (Paul Bettany) is a 14th (or so) century priest with a guilty conscience. Guilty of adultery, he exiles himself to the countryside and casts his lot with a group of itinerant theatrical players lead by Martin (DaFoe). Though Nikolas has no discernible acting talent, the troupe begins to grow attached to him, especially as he develops an interest in the mystery of the disappearance and death of several young boys in a small town the players have come to visit. Nikolas exhumes the corpse, attracting the attention and ire of the local magistrate, and discovers a cover-up and conspiracy which his conscience can not allow to go unexposed. Since the courts, the local law enforcement, the church and the local nobility will not listen, Nikolas must plead his case to the citizenry. The troupe takes up the task using their well honed talents.This is a very clever, well written, very well filmed, carefully planned piece of historical fiction. The medieval period is portrayed with far greater accuracy and sensitivity than the usual contemporary film affords, though its cleanliness is a bit absurd, the set is magnificent and reminiscent of Herzog's talents in creating a historic context. The language of the film is also as authentic as it could be without resorting to archaic tongues few would understand. The acting is exceptional, though a couple of Bettany's soliloquies were a little predictably presented (he seems to do a lot of this sort of thing) with DaFoe and Gina McKee providing especially touching and intense performances.The acting and strong script combine to make The Reckoning as good as a character study as it is as a dramatic mystery. It is not, however, a fast paced thriller and will undoubtedly disappoint those used to the style of mystery currently in vogue - that is guns-a-blazin' sex and violence-decorated kill-fests. If you're not in the mood for a slow-moving but intense film experience, avoid The Reckoning. If you want to be immersed in a different, but very real, world, and experience a contemporary issue through the eyes of those who live in that world, see it.