''Stations of the Cross'' (german: Kreuzweg) is a 2014 German

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by Dietrich Brüggemann. The film had its premiere in the competition section of the

64th Berlin International Film Festival The 64th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 6 to 16 February 2014. Wes Anderson's film ''The Grand Budapest Hotel'' opened the festival. British film director Ken Loach was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear. The Golden ...

, where it won the

Silver Bear The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

for Best Script.

Plot

Maria (Lea van Acken) is a 14-year-old girl in a family attached to a

Traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, Christian liturgy, liturgical forms, Catholic devotions, devotions, and presentations of Catholic Church, Catholic teaching that existed in the Catholic Church befo ...

organization, who has dedicated her life to serving God. Over the course of 14

long take In filmmaking, a long take (also called a continuous take or continuous shot) is a shot with a duration much longer than the conventional editing pace either of the film itself or of films in general. Significant camera movement and elaborate blo ...

s, each echoing and named after the

Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Way of Sorrows or the Via Crucis, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The station ...

which Jesus endured on his path to

Golgotha Calvary ( la, Calvariae or ) or Golgotha ( grc-gre, Γολγοθᾶ, ''Golgothâ'') was a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where Jesus was said to have been crucified according to the canonical Gospels. Since at least the early mediev ...

, Maria attempts a path of self-inflicted religious ascesis in the hope that God will cure her younger brother of

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

Cast

* Lea van Acken as Maria *

Franziska Weisz Franziska Weisz (also credited as ''Franziska Weiss'' or ''Weiß''; born 4 May 1980 in Vienna) is an Austrian actress.

as Mother *

Florian Stetter Florian Stetter (born Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city ...

as Pater Weber * as Bernadette * as Christian * Klaus Michael Kamp as Father * Georg Wesch as Thomas *

Birge Schade Birge Schade (born 7 February 1965) is a German film actress. She appeared in more than ninety films since 1989. Selected filmography References External links * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schade, Birge 1965 births Living people German film a ...

as PE Teacher * as Doctor *

Hanns Zischler Hanns Zischler (born 18 June 1947) is a German actor known for his portrayal of Hans in Steven Spielberg's film ''Munich''. According to the Internet Movie Database, Zischler has appeared in 171 movies since 1968. He is known in Sweden for his r ...

as Funeral Director

Reception

Reception for the film was mostly positive.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gave the film 91% out of 23 votes, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The critics consensus states that the film is "A drama of thought-provoking depth as well as a showcase for newcomer Lea van Acken, ''Stations of the Cross'' hits hard and leaves a lingering impact." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a rating of 68 out of 100, from 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Steven Greydanus of Decent Films gave the film an "A−" grade, saying "''Stations of the Cross'' is among the most insightful and devastating cross-examinations of religious fundamentalism that I have ever seen, certainly in a Catholic context. The film is not so much an attack on faith or religion, but an examination of how faith goes wrong."

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * {{AllMovie title, 595379, Stations of the Cross 2014 films 2014 drama films German drama films 2010s German-language films Films about religion Society of Saint Pius X 2010s German films