Friday, September 9, 2011

Requiem (2006)

Director: Hans-Christian Schmid. Cast: Sandra Hüller, Burghart Klaußner, Imogen Kogge. 93 min. Drama. Germany.

A very brave film. Based on the 1970s event of an epileptic teenage German girl, the victim of an exorcism leading to a tragic death (which The Exorcist was based on), this slow drama easily has the chance of descending into a glamorized Hollywood horror film - but avoids every pothole along the way. Instead, it's a character study, about how a perfectly sane girl is driven mad by religious superstition. The very simple ending scene (and the disturbing ending subtitles) will leave one in a daze, making the viewer wonder how many lives have been lost in similar ways.

PS: Thank you again, Toast, for the recommendation. On a sidenote, you described this movie's scenes "horrifiic". Are you sure you haven't mixed this with The Exorcism of Emily Rose, again based on the same event? Requiem was quite benign.

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