November

November is a 2017 fantasy horror drama film written and directed by Rainer Sarnet, based on Andrus Kivirähk's 2000 novel Rehepapp ehk November ("Old Barny aka November"). The film has received praise internationally, and it was selected as the Estonian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. Plot In 19th century Estonia, a mythical village is inhabited by personified Black Death, spirits, werewolves and the Devil himself. The film opens with a supernaturally-powered automaton called a kratt stealing a cow. It drags the cow by its chains and lifts it up in the air, depositing it at the farm of its master, the villager called Raak. Fashioned out of odds, ends, and farm tools, kratts need to be imbued with a soul in order to do their masters' bidding: primarily stealing livestock from other villagers, aside from menial farm labor. Villagers whistle for the Devil at a crossroads in order to arrange a deal: their human soul, to buy a soul for their kratt. However, wily villagers such as Raak continually trick the devil by using the sap of three black currants in lieu of blood to sign the Devil's contract. The villagers are driven by a need to survive the harsh winter, and resort to all manner of thievery and deceit to accomplish their ends. They steal from one another, and trade their souls for the kratt in order to keep their souls from being stolen, too. They even fool the Plague - first disguised as a blanched young woman crossing the river, then later as a white goat - by wearing pants over their heads to make it think they have two asses, and thus leave them alone. But the Plague cannot be fooled twice, and when it finally assumes a pig form, the village elder, Sander, makes a pact with the Plague: if it has to kill, then it must leave a young boy and a young girl alive so that their people can go on. Hans refuses the bargain and it is implied he kills the pig with a scythe while it's distracted swearing on a bible brought by Sander. Relieved, the villagers dance on ecstatic for having survived yet again. The young girl and the young boy are the main characters, Liina and Hans.