‘Stations of the Cross’ Review

Films about religion can be touchy subjects, you only have to look at their history to see the uproar that they can cause.  Good films don’t attack, but also they don’t work as propaganda, they open up the subject for debate and raise questions about what we see before us.  Stations of the Cross is a film about extremes, but also about the power of belief, but portraying it in a way that we see both sides of the argument, then get to decide our own viewpoint on the subject even if the conclusion is something truly worrying.

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Looking at the extremes of the Catholic religion Stations of the Cross focuses on the story of Maria (Lea van Acken) a member of a fundamentalist Catholic community.  Living a life where her traditionalist beliefs are contradicted by the world around her, she fights for her belief in God and the rules that have been provided for her by the church.  Sacrificing her life for the good of her young brother her story is told through the fourteen Stations of the Cross.

The best way to go into this movie is to not have a view at all on religion and be open-minded.  Straight from the very few seconds of the film the warning signs will appear whether you have religious views or not.  The idea that people must be “Warriors” for the religion fighting a battle not only to save people that do not follow Catholicism, but also those who follow the wrong kind show the level of extremism that this form of the religion is showing.  The faith that Maria and her family follows is traditionalist in all senses, and it is easy to see the effects that it has on a teenager who starts to naturally question the world around her, and what her place is in not only her life but of others she cares about.

To some Stations of the Cross could be taken as a story of a saint, of a girl who should be beautified for the martyrdom that she decides upon.  To a lot of others though, and not just Atheists but people who have religious beliefs that parallel Maria’s it should be obvious that the views given up for interpretation here are extremist in nature and dangerous.  The traditionalist teachings and restrictive nature of her life have given Maria a twisted version of her own beliefs moulded to fit what she desires the most, and it leads to tragic consequences.

The film drags the audience into Maria’s life and makes the film an intimate and very intensely focused film on the character herself.  With fixed shots that concentrate on Maria we experience just how conflicted she is, how at times she wants to experience life outside of her closed off world but her religion and family rules are ever-present forcing her down the one path chosen for her, the path of “God” and her family.  The results are truly heart-breaking as we grow to empathise with this girl, especially through the excellent performance of Lea van Acken.  The most chilling part of all is that we can actually understand why she is doing what she does and the tragedy of it all.

Whatever our beliefs on religion Stations of the Cross is a film that is both captivating and horrifying because it shows the true nature of what extremism can do to its believers.  Anything can be dangerous when things are taken too far, and the thought that people can defend such extremist nature is a scary thing and there will be people out there who would.  Perhaps the most chilling part of Stations of the Cross though is the fact that the film never lets up in asking you to question what you see, and that in the finality of the conclusion there is still a question of what if? That is what makes Stations of the Cross one you’ll remember for a long time, because it never really truly judges the extremist nature of the story it portrays the very fact that it leaves you with questions is the most harrowing thing you’ll be left with.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS is in cinemas 28 November

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