4 stars
the film is about a 14 year old virgin girl from a Christian Fundamentalist family …
it started out as a 5 star movie but it is ruined by two things:
1 - the Hollywood style ending which IMO takes away from an otherwise serious art project …
2 - it feels too much like “Breaking The Waves” ( 1996 ) by Lars Von Trier … not as a remake but as a sort of a reflection …
the most original aspect of this film is that it’s shot in chapters such as " Jesus carries the Cross " or " Jesus falls for the 1st time " and each chapter is a continuous uninterrupted shot. the first chapter for example is a 15 minute long shot with pages and pages of dialogue without a single cut. it must have been a nightmare memorizing all those pages of lines and then having to deliver them all without a single mistake. the entire movie is shot that way in only 14 shots.
between the two films “Breaking The Waves” ( 1996 ) is better, but “Stations of the Cross” ( 2014 ) is better shot. after all, the films are almost 20 years apart and while a big budget blockbusters might have already been shot well in 1996 ( or even in the 70s ) indie films from the 90s looked HORRIBLE and out of them “Breaking the Waves” probably looks the worst - almost unwatchable. on other hand “Stations of the Cross” looks good - the picture is bright and clean.
“Stations of the Cross” is in German while “Breaking the Waves” is in Scottish accent.
acting isn’t great but that’s mainly due to the way the film was with 14 long shots - you can’t get too carried away with acting when you have to do 10 minute shots - you are just trying to survive them without making mistakes that would cause you to have to start over. it’s interesting as an art project but acting does take a hit.
overall i recommend “Stations of the Cross” but i have to take a star off for the 2 reasons mentioned above, namely the ending and the similarity to “Breaking the Waves” …