Stations of the Cross is a film about a girl called Maria (Lea van Acken) who decides to devote her existence entirely to God, in order to heal her brother. This latin-laden, mostly German language exploration of religion, extremism, teenage life and overly prescriptive parenting is an ungodly affair despite the innumerable mentions of the deity him/herself in the 105 minute runtime.
The opening scenes are of Maria’s priest, Father Weber (Florian Stetter), holding forth at a sunday school-type affair on the importance of being a warrior for Jesus, the tone and contents of which probably resembles many British politicians’ nightmares on what the proceedings of Islamic radicalisation, class of 2014 would be like. This is the film’s greatest redemption; the likening of extreme Christianity to other extreme branches of other religions.
The pace and content of the film is neatly arranged to take in each station of the cross, Maria’s unsuspecting parents, brothers and sister and french au pair Bernadette (Lucie Aron) playing their part in turn, along with a boy, aptly named Christian, who takes an interest in our sinner du jour. This has the effect of telling us what to think about each section but also breaks everything down, much in the visually arresting style of the artistic depictions of the Stations, so that momentum is lost and thus the viewer may find it difficult to maintain emotional interest in the film.
The ongoing exchange between Maria and her mother (Franziska Weisz) is clearly the mainstay of the film despite presenting a not-very-novel damaging relationship in the style of Carrie (1976) and her mother. Whatever Maria thinks, you can bet that her mother has thought it first and even more harshly. Franziska Weisz portrays this very un-maternal figure of a mother, authoritarian to the last, with great talent. Lea van Acken is passivity itself.
Stations of the Cross is not kind to extreme Catholicism/Christianity but also does not condemn it; the whole thing, including the ending, is without any sort of fanfare. The lack of sensationalism is a plus but in its place the film might have benefitted from more exploration on what it is that leads people to religion, to this sort of mindless devotion, aside from the overly prescriptive parenting aspect.
For a film of this nature to inspire a feeling of quiet disappointment as the credits roll either means that film-maker brother and sister duo Dietrich and Anna Brüggemann have fallen short in exploring the effect of religion on impressionable minds or have completely hit the spot in explaining how most people feel about religion in the 21st century. Nonplussed and slightly sad.
STATIONS OF THE CROSS is in cinemas 28 November
Award-winning film which won the Berlin Silver Bear for Best Script this year and the EIFF Student Jury Prize.
Maryann has awarded Stations of the Cross two Torches of Truth
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It is quite crazy to give this 2 out of 5, or to fall into the easy mistake of saying ‘a boy, aptly named Christian’ : Christian is used as a name in German-speaking countries, but does not interchange with our faith word ‘Christian’.