The Reckoning

The Reckoning is a murder mystery set in the Middle Ages yet steeped in moral dilemmas about the power of art, the temptations of evil and the search for justice that continue to haunt us in modern times. On the run in the dead of winter, a fugitive priest named Nicholas (Paul Bettany), joins with a troupe of traveling actors led by the charismatic Martin (Willem Dafoe). Lost in the woods, the group arrives at a village, where the actors encounter a woman named Martha being sentenced to death for the murder of a young boy. Under Martin's leadership, the actors defy tradition, discarding their usual Biblical plays, and instead, decide to stage a bold performance based on the real-life crime, turning entertainment into persuasion.