TW: Harassment, Racism, Genocide, Religious Topics

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is of Disney’s most darkest movies, highlighting topics that they don’t usually take on in their movies just for the fact that it would not go over well with parents and children alike. Though not a movie I saw when I was a kid, I watched it more recently and really appreciated the topics it took on. The Hunchback of Notre Dame follows the story of  Quasimodo, the cites bell ringer who struggles with his body as he was born with a deformity and is living under an atrocious archdeacon Claude Frollo.

This movie really takes the watcher through a few different plot lines. It does focus mainly on Quasimodo showing how his mom was chased down when he was baby and eventually killed by Claude Frollo who takes him in only because a fellow preacher forced him to live with the guilt of what he did. But Frollo doesn’t feel guilty, he is a cruel, racist, evil man who only wants to get rid of gypsies and ‘cleanse’ the city of whoever he believes doesn’t fit in with his vision. This plot line gets so much darker as the movie progress with Frollo continuing to berate Quasimodo calling him ‘ugly’ and ‘deformed’ his whole life while hunting down the gypsies in the city.

I was in shock watching this movie because it frankly didn’t feel like a Disney movie. That isn’t to say it isn’t a great movie, because it is absolutely amazing it just sets a tone I don’t think kids could take on. The movie shows graphic scenes of Frollo being specifically obsessed with Esmeralda who is a independent women making her way throughout the city who is trying to attack her. He corners her in what is supposed to be a safe haven, threatens her family, and even tries to kill her once he realizes that she will never be his. Esmeralda befriends Quasimodo and when Frollo finds this out he stops at nothing to manipulate Quasimodo breaking him down more than he ever has before.

This movie encompasses so much from genocide, racism, damnation, and the concept of sin. The way it lets you know who the villain is from the very beginning should make you bored with the movie but it instead wraps you up in it, making you want to see how this evil man will be taken down. Frollo is a character we see in real life, he isn’t hateful based on a fantastical reason, he is hateful based on realism and that might make him one of the scariest villains in a Disney movie. The movie makes you cry for Quasimodo and Esmerelda, it makes you furious at Frollo and every knight engaging in the murder of innocent people, it makes you inspired seeing how they fight back not letting someone tear them down or suppress them.

(This link will take you to ‘Hell Fire”) Also he is just the worst.

Before I address the amazing ending to the movie I want to mention how much the music in it is so important to the message. Every song in it had a purpose and a message. They pushed that knife into the audience heart with the lyrics that gave us an insight to what each character what thinking or feeling in that moment. The composition of every song, in particular “Hell Fire” (which Frollo sings exposing his wickedness in every form) and “God Help the Outcasts” instrumentals that could bring anyone to tears.

The ending to The Hunchback of Notre Dame is satisfying in every single way. We see Quasimodo come to terms with himself and who he is. He fights back against Frollo and in a heated battle after he tries to attack Esmerelda and falls to his death in what ironically was the city on fire that he created. Did Frollo deserve the death he got? I definitely would say yes and I would recommend this movie for older teenagers and adults more than kids but it still is a great watch. It will leave you thinking more than other Disney movies.