When the list of films to watch for the ICM Film Festival was announced,I ordered the DVD of this straight away. As these types of things usually go,despite ordering it first,this was the last movie to arrive of the festival viewings,which led to me rushing to the stations.
View on the film:
Following the stations of the cross paths that Christ went on to crucifixion, the screenplay by co-writer/(with Anna Brüggemann) director Dietrich Brüggemann draws the blood of chilling religious fundamentalism, with the ban from the family of Maria listening to "demonic" music tuning into the de-humanisation shown across all extremist interpretations of religion. Separated into 14 segments, the writers brilliantly unveil the strictness that Maria and her family live under,via the coldness shown at the dinner table of the opening segment expanding to the family giving the cold shoulder to any advice from doctors,as they look to blind faith for Maria.
Placing the hands of faith on Maria, director Dietrich Brüggemann & cinematographer Alexander Sass follows her steps to the cross in fourteen extended takes. Impressively keeping each one-take from ever running out of steam, Brüggemann and Sass delicately frame each shot with a subtle closed-off atmosphere, reflecting the impossibility of Maria and her family freeing themselves from the frame and their fundamental state. Joined by a heart-felt Moritz Knapp as Christian, Lea van Acken gives an excellent performance as Maria,whose initial care-free nature Acken brings down with the cross of her family weighing on brittle shoulders,that leave Maria full of grace.
View on the film:
Following the stations of the cross paths that Christ went on to crucifixion, the screenplay by co-writer/(with Anna Brüggemann) director Dietrich Brüggemann draws the blood of chilling religious fundamentalism, with the ban from the family of Maria listening to "demonic" music tuning into the de-humanisation shown across all extremist interpretations of religion. Separated into 14 segments, the writers brilliantly unveil the strictness that Maria and her family live under,via the coldness shown at the dinner table of the opening segment expanding to the family giving the cold shoulder to any advice from doctors,as they look to blind faith for Maria.
Placing the hands of faith on Maria, director Dietrich Brüggemann & cinematographer Alexander Sass follows her steps to the cross in fourteen extended takes. Impressively keeping each one-take from ever running out of steam, Brüggemann and Sass delicately frame each shot with a subtle closed-off atmosphere, reflecting the impossibility of Maria and her family freeing themselves from the frame and their fundamental state. Joined by a heart-felt Moritz Knapp as Christian, Lea van Acken gives an excellent performance as Maria,whose initial care-free nature Acken brings down with the cross of her family weighing on brittle shoulders,that leave Maria full of grace.