Summary
Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil is a visionary movie presenting demon versus man but unfortunately it falls at the sides with a lacklustre story.
Landing on Netflix is a slice of hell, wrapped in Paul Urkijo Alijo‘s visionary work that portrays the workings of the underworld and a blacksmith determined to keep a demon at bay. Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil is an uneasy movie, not because you experience the devil’s horns in the flesh, but due to the strangeness of the narrative.
The story of Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil follows Patxi (Kandido Uranga), the town’s unspoken blacksmith, that hides away in his workshop in the woods, purposefully keeping himself away from people. The Netflix film teases the idea that this blacksmith is evil but when the little girl Usue (Uma Bracaglia) infiltrates his property, she is fooled by the demon portraying a young enslaved boy, which makes it clear that Patxi is secretly torturing a demon from hell. That’s where Netflix’s Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil becomes the story of man versus demon.
The entire experience is freakish. We have become so used to the theoretical hell that when I see Sartael (Eneko Sagardoy) the demon talking in his hellish tones, mocking those who try to challenge him, I was surprised by how wild the director decided to run with the story. The movie manages to engage with the audience due to its peculiar nature of keeping a demon locked in a cage, getting poked at by those he is trying to capture. Sartael wants Patxi’s soul so he can compel him to hell for eternity. I didn’t know whether to be amused by the story because, despite the visionary filmmaking, the demon itself looked incongruous to the darker themes of the movie.
Netflix’s Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil is a movie about tormented minds opposing each other, as the blacksmith uses all his energy to try to keep the demon at bay, whilst the townsfolk are naturally fascinated by the events that are unfolding. I really wish the Netflix film was more, and although the vision of the director shines through, the story is not delivered well.
