The Stations of the Cross depict stages of Jesus Christ’s journey to his crucifixion, that act of crucifixion and his death on the cross. Having become popularised around the time of St Francis of Assisi, physical depictions of the fourteen stations can now be found in church naves the world over. Christians use these stations to meditate on Christ’s journey to his sacrifice, and they now form the basis for a film from Dietrich Brüggemann which explores the risks of religious devotion.
The stations are tableaux which each represent a scene along the journey, starting with Jesus being condemned to death. In Brüggemann’s version, written with his sister Anna, the first scene introduces us to Maria (Lea van Acken), a fourteen-year-old girl attending her final confirmation class, and the scene resembles the layout of the Last Supper, with the priest (Florian Stetter) at the centre and the enthusiastic Maria at his right hand, keenly feeding him the answers to all of his questions. What’s also revealed during this first chapter is that Maria and her family are followers of a branch of Catholicism that has rejected more recent proclamations from the Roman church and is following a stricter, more pious path.
Brüggemann has structured the film into fourteen chapters, each with a brief title card referencing the corresponding station on Jesus’ journey, and each chapter imitates a tableau by being framed and shot with a locked off camera (apart from three of the chapters which contain a gentle pan or transition). Rather than feeling rigid or enforced because of the framing, the characters or background are allowed to move freely and the energy in many scenes actually feels elevated as a result; Brüggemann’s scenes also have great depth, using the third dimension very successfully and the camera movement is used judiciously and also to great effect.
“The rigour of Maria’s personal theology keeps her on a particular path with a tragic outcome…”
As the stations reflect Jesus’ journey to Golgotha, so Maria’s STATIONS OF THE CROSS reflect her journey to her confirmation class. Along the way she interacts with others, including a young boy rather pointedly called Christian, who share her basic belief in Christianity but in variously more moderate degrees. Maria’s beliefs are called into question, but the rigour of her personal theology keeps her on a particular path with a tragic outcome; that, even in the early scenes of daily domesticity this outcome begins to feel inevitable are testament to the power of the Brüggemanns’ script.
STATIONS OF THE CROSS works well on many different levels; firstly, both as a caution against and a damning critique of the unquestioning acceptance of religious dogma, seen in the context of Catholicism here but in a way that could be similarly applied to any faith in practice. The use of the Stations of the Cross is in a way ironic when the Catholic church has re-evaluated the stations themselves; of the original set, six of the fourteen have no basis in scripture and in the last three decades the Church has recommended an alternative set with more Scriptural leanings. Yet it is exactly this revisionist thinking that Maria’s church rejects, and the various Christian viewpoints within the film reflect the fracturing of faith within modern society.
Secondly, the film is also a compelling family drama, as Maria’s younger brother is rendered mute thanks to educational difficulties and Maria’s faith is affected by both a desire to in some way find a suitable act of reparation for him – she is told in no uncertain terms that his illness is a consequence of sin by her priest – and also as she struggles to find ways of pleasing her puritanical mother (Franziska Weisz). Her adherence to her faith also causes her to be marginalised at school and eventually sets her on a path to self-destruction, but the real tragedy is only fully exposed towards the end of the film, as Maria’s mother’s attempts to beatify her daughter in her own mind are revealed as her last desperate justification for her own closed-minded actions.
In the final chapter we see how Christian may be the only person who truly loves Maria unconditionally, the simplest of affections amid a complex moral and religious tragedy. STATIONS OF THE CROSS is strikingly directed and boldly told, and succeeds beautifully in constructing a heartbreaking tale that explores family, church and state by judging people and the consequences of blind faith without ever having to resort to being judgemental of belief or faith themselves.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mrfd1RJqVA