Luna Nera: Season 1 – Netflix Series Review

LUNA NERA is a new Netflix series. The story focuses on a group of women accused of witchcraft in 17th century Italy. It’s very much told in the style of a dark adventure which is something I always enjoy. Read our Luna Nera Season 1 review here!

Luna Nera is a new Netflix series with a story about women being suspected of being witches. The story takes place in 17th century Italy. Just from watching the trailer, you can clearly see what that means; We’re literally talking about women being burned at the stake.

Fortunately, this new Netflix series was created by an all-female writing team and the directors are also women. The series is dark and gritty which is just one reason to give Luna Nera a chance. If you can just get over the subtitles, that is.

Bong Joon Ho used his Golden Globe acceptance speech to encourage you to do just that when he won for Parasite. There really is a huge world of amazing movies and TV series out there and the dubbed versions are never as good. That’s why we always try to cover all genre productions regardless of language.

Recommended reading: Find all our reviews of non-English language genre productions here >

Fortunately, Netflix is releasing so many non-English productions that people really do seem to be getting used to it. Continue reading our Luna Nera Season 1 review below.

Religion versus Science

A lot of the plot in Luna Nera focuses on the differences between religion and science. And also, the way in which both are used to punish women. Yes, in many ways this is also the story of how women have been persecuted in many ways for centuries. However, this is at least as much a story of empowerment as any sort of victim story.

The Church (any kind of church in any religion) has been used to “keep women in their place”. Not all women and not all the time… just whenever it suited any man in power. Which is essentially the same as “always” since every woman could be at risk.

In Luna Nera, some women are still in touch with the nature-given powers. They’re called witches, but really, they just have special gifts and skills. Of course, the men of religion and power are not happy with this, so they seek them out to kill them. In this series, there is an actual band of witch hunters.

The power of women in Luna Nera

This might not be a Netflix series for everyone, but I enjoy the very realistic style (in terms of how people lived and acted). Also, I was immediately curious about each character and wanted to know more about every one of them. Both the “good” and the “bad” characters.

And yes, there are “good” men and “bad” women in this new Italian Netflix series. It’s not as simple as men versus women – though that is a big part of the story. Mostly because it’s based on historical events where women were punished for all kinds of weird reasons.

At least two main characters in Luna Nera are men, who wish to help the women being persecuted. And there are also plenty of women, who are quick to fight against any woman suspected of witchcraft. Of course, one should also understand that it would be risking your life not to.

However, when women work together, it’s obvious that things are better for them. Even more so when there are also men, who will stand and fight alongside them. Yes, very much like today which is why this story is still very relevant. To understand our present, we do need to know about our history. Even the one from 17th century Italy.

Watch Luna Nera season 1 on Netflix now!

Luna Nera was created by Francesca Manieri, Laura Paolucci, and Tiziana Triana. In other words, this series was created by three women. It’s also all kinds of amazing that the six episodes in this season are directed by women. The three female directors are Francesca Comencini, Susanna Nicchiarelli, and Paola Randi.

You might not care about this. However, when the subject is women being accused (or suspected) of being witches and burned at the stake, it definitely does matter!

Luna Nera is the first writing credit for Tiziana Triana (according to IMDb anyway). However, she is also the co-writer of a thriller in pre-production called Shadows which sounds very interesting – and should have many horror elements.

Co-creator Francesca Manieri has already written several short and feature film screenplays as well as a series from 2018. Laura Paolucci has also worked as both a writer and producer on several movies. Also, she wrote and produced season 1 of the amazing HBO series My Brilliant Friend which has season 2 coming out this Spring.

As far as Luna Nera goes, season 1 has just six episodes and you can watch them all on Netflix now.

Season 1 of Luna Nera is out on Netflix globally from January 31, 2020.

Details

Creators: Francesca Manieri, Laura Paolucci, Tiziana Triana
Cast: Nina Fotaras, Federica Fracassi, Manuela Mandracchia, Astrid Meloni, Nathan Macchioni