Another mis-understanding of the schismatic and excommunicated "Congregation of St Pius XII" which is NOT a Catholic organisation. Rejecting the reforms of Vatican II, this group (which includes Mr. Mel Gibson who builds her own churches!) considers all Popes after Pius XII invalid and heretics.Other than that, it is a solid movie but without the "Catholic" stuff, it would me nothing.

It was surprisingly an amazing movie. Related to the religious thing, but science had a fair amount of display in the narration. You don't have to be religious to watch this film. You know I enjoyed the movie as a subject that portrayed in a conflict manner. In the end, whatever happen or wins are the best conclusion for a cinematic story. The contents are supposed to be the path the human walked through the past 2000 years, not on the interest to raise the issue. The film was clear on the matter, that is how the movie had the upper hand to receive respect everywhere.The story was told in the multiple episodes. The story deals on the basis of the each episode's title that I can clearly say it had something to do with the Christian faith. Because it follows the same order. Since I don't belong to any, it became a study material. From the introduction to the conclusion, it was well maintained pace, that is slow. But in the middle, I was almost drifted away from my concentration. Somehow managed to hold back my position like I always do and finished watching it by liking it very much.You can take the movie and its contents in many angles. It is up to you, but either way the movie succeeds in balancing and revealing the facts. Leaves you make your own verdict, because you know what's right and wrong being a human to believe in religion or in science, which both were the creation of ours. Sometimes these both do not require to understand life, just like the animals which survived alongside us for very long without civilization revolution, religious faith and proper law and order. The point is the one who understands the life and those who don't bother about knowing it, lives better than being confused between the line and seeks the shelter of religious.An easiest camera work for the cinematographer. All he has to do was to place the lens in a right position and that's it, the rest would be monitored on the television screen where the director seated, I believe. Because there is no camera panning except in a couple of places, other than that it was motionless and the characters appears in the front to perform. The cast has to memorise the lines of those scenes that covers up to non-stop 10 minutes."My religion has put a ban on running in circles in a gym."More like a stage play where setting for one frame (view) is always there and keeps changing for each scene with the different backgrounds what the script demands. My initial thought was, it might have been based on the play, but I still don't know the answer to that. Probably not, because it won an award for the script at the Berlin film festival. Yep, I loved the presentation, it was so cool and beautiful.From this what I have learnt was the involvement of minors in the religious ceremony is kind of inhumane. It's okay to teach them, but some rituals and sacrifice are way beyond acceptable. Those innocent minds have no experience of the difficulty of life, they're yet to explore it. Being poor or someone in the family is very ill should not be the reason to force them to take part. It is the great issue in all the religion. I think physically and mentally affecting take part in the religious ceremony must not be allowed for the underage.I had mild doubt over opting it to view in the earlier, but went for it to refresh from my regular kind of cinema and it did not fail to have my full attention, well I managed, did not I? I am happy I tried to have a different cinema, in fact the filmmakers given the distinct one, so I appreciate them. In the todays world, young film fanatics are addicted to either Hollywood/British or Korean films, but there are plenty of hidden gems in front of us that they're neglecting to have a glimpse. I would recommend this for the adults, they need to watch this more than children and young adults.7/10

"Kreuzweg" is the newest movie by Dietrich Brüggemann and his sister Anna. The duo already collaborated on several successful projects in the past, such as "Drei Zimmer/Küche/Bad" and "Renn, wenn Du kannst". Anna Brüggemann is also a prolific actress and plays a part in this film here as well. The film, which is also known as "Stations of the Cross" was pretty successful at the Berlin Film Festival last year and achieved several other awards and prestigious nominations since then. The lead character is played quietly convincing by Lea von Acken. She has not acted in anything else so far, but if she decides to become a professional, she may have a good career ahead. You really feel for her and suffer with her. Movies about religious life are not too frequent these days, maybe because it's virtually impossible to never offend anyone, either the Christians or the atheists.So this one made for a nice change and let me tell you, it's very critical towards religion. There are several interesting aspects about it as well. Basically the main character's fate is linked to the one of Jesus Christ and we read a quote from the bible every time a new chapter begins. This quote fits nicely what is about to happen next. Also pay attention how every chapter has no moving camera at all. It's still in one place, so every chapter takes place at a certain location and does not switch places. Also, I believe there is no soundtrack here in this film. It's all about the interactions between the characters and their actions. No music. Just words. The most despicable person in the film is the girl's mother. Even after the death of the child, she still believes, everything is the way it should be and we know she is the one where her daughter got this sick approach to giving her life prematurely to God. Her father is just there, but does not say a word as the mother is clearly the head of the family, the only one with authority and nobody dares to contradict her.The most famous cast member may be Hanns Zischler, but he only has a small part as an undertaker at the end of the film. You may have seen him in Munich. The film's heart and soul may very well be the writing. The dialogs are top-notch from start to finish, the characters' words and actions are realistic. If there is anything, I did not like about the film, it is probably the fact that her brother really started talking at the end just like a miracle. But you can probably make a point that it was just because of the extreme situation everybody was in with Maria (fitting name) was dying at the same time, ironically triggered by a piece of altar bread. This is an excellent film, one of Germany's best in recent years and I still wonder why they submitted a piece of crap like "Geliebte Schwestern" to the Academy awards with films like "Kreuzweg" as possible alternatives. Highly recommended. It's roughly 100 minutes that are as tragic as interesting to watch.

But it also can be seen as something completely different. The movie juggles both worlds and it actually succeeds in it. Also having found kid actors who fit the story and the way the movie is made is more than incredible. Obviously the religious tones might sound scary for some enlightening for others. What you make of it, will boil down to what you believe and what you see.While that is up to the viewer to decide and there are some clichés you have to go through to get to the finale, the movie does so in a special style. It's one set up per scene, which means the camera man seems to have the easiest job of his life. Set the camera, roll and let the actors do the rest. As you can imagine the scenes are a couple of minutes long, so not only did the actors have to learn their lines thoroughly, they also had to perform in one take! Not an easy task indeed. If the camera were ever to movie it would have a huge impact ... but does it and if so what is it telling us? You'll have to watch this very intriguing project and make your own mind up about things ...