The Last Valley

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Recommended: Thirty years war history short essay

THE LAST VALLEY The Last Valley, a serious historical and sociological drama, is just about the only English language feature film to deal with the Thirty Years War. It's about a valley that because of its inaccessibility escapes some of the ravages of that very brutal conflict.17th century Europe was the century of the great religious conflicts between Catholic and the many Protestant faiths. The Catholic Hapsburg Holy Roman Empire was gradually losing its grip on more and more of the various little domains that made up their empire. More rulers and the populations of those small kingdoms were converting to either Lutheranism or Calvinism. There are no people around the village though everything looks to be prosperous. Vogel falls asleep …show more content…

So an uneasy alliance is formed with many bumps along the way. As the Thirty Years War was heavily centered on religion, the Catholic town is often at odds with the Protestant soldiers. When the Captain wants to destroy the shrine which protects the village he bargains with the head of the village to keep the shrine in exchange for the village providing six women to serve as comfort to the soldiers. Plenty of jealousy and possessiveness ensues as the six women are chosen for this task. The village priest promises that the women will not go to hell for sleeping with the soldiers because they have saved the …show more content…

"There is no hell because there is no God. It's just a legend."

As the battle looms near, Vogel is asked by Inge to take her with him. Vogel turns her down because he claims he can't protect her and that after all he has seen he's not really capable of love. Likewise, Gruber's wife begs the Captain to take her away as well. The Captain refuses and orders Vogel to stay and protect the village making sure to kill the priest first. Vogel tries to convince Gruber to build an army of the villagers and Gruber indicates he is prepared to defeat the Captain if he should ever return.

The priest discovers that Erica is a witch and condemns her to death. Gruber and Vogel stand by as she is tortured by the priest. In order to prevent her from being burned alive, Vogel stabs her to death unbeknown to the villagers who then burn her body. Rage overcomes one of the soldiers left with Vogel and he throws the priest into the fire as well.

Meanwhile, the Captain and his men jin the fight at the bridge over the Rhine that both sides badly want to control. Murderous hand-to-hand combat ensues and it appears the Captain has been

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