Stations of the Cross

A young girl subjected to religious brainwashing and a tyrannical mother. Long, still shots without music, well-acted, austere and too cold – as if we were not supposed to sympathize with the suffering character. (11/07/2014)

(49th KVIFF) The biggest downer of the festival. Fourteen static scenes without editing that, on the bare bones of the stations of the cross, tell the story of a young girl who wants to be a good Christian, but that isn’t enough for her uptight, über-Catholic mother, who forces her to be an even better Christian. And because “I want my own father and my own mother”, she tries to be an even better Christian… but that excessive motivation harms her. A movie that actually isn’t very movie-like, but it’s still incredibly strong. The way the characters ruin their own and each other’s lives made me physically sick. It’d be interesting to watch this film together with the British drama Calvary, which looks at religion in today’s world from the other side (and not with a significantly more positive tone). The feeling it leaves is that what’s important it’s not faith, but whether a person is “normal”, or an idiot or an authoritarian asshole. (12/07/2014)

A real event. The framework of the fourteen stations is not used for its own sake - on the contrary, the story of the teenage Mary communicates with Christian symbolism civilly and argues in stratum with religious fundamentalism. Yet it does not become a dull anti-religious agitator, but rather functions as a destructive family drama that is smooth down to the last detail. Some of the scenes are reminiscent of the hard irony of Seidl (the gym), whilst others absolutely uniquely combine realism and the iconic "station". Stations of the Cross can be both an emotional KO and an extremely well-thought-out aesthetic gesture. The sophistication of the script is captivating, and if we can talk about sharpening down to the last detail, then it is in this film (the confession scene!). Dietrich Brüggemann builds on the best tradition of Austrian and German cinema, with its ability to materially penetrate the center of the pathological phenomenon and let the viewer experience its banality and destructive consequences. A film-monster, revealing the thin line between love, dedication and fanaticism. (07/07/2014)

A bold and strong film. Following the example of the Way of the Cross of Jesus Christ, the main protagonist, fooled by Christian ideology, sets out on her own path to destruction. The mostly static scenes, shot in long, undivided shots, captivate the audience with their impressiveness, convincing acting and the strikingness (and perversity) of the ideas presented in them. All the while the film proclaims that the Catholic Church is evil, only to eventually take a different stance in the final quarter of an hour and prepare a confusing twist, which, however, is fundamentally at odds with the beliefs that it had promoted until then. But that's also the only complaint I have about the film. (12/07/2014)