Requiem

To be frank I completely disagree with the above critique. I found this film quite moving and very sad - I still can't stop thinking about.

I thought the way it was shot moved it along fairly nicely and was thankfully fairly anti- Hollywood which was a nice relief. Of course most Americans will probably not enjoy it because it's too subtle, nothing explodes and they actually have to think for a change rather than being told how to feel. If Hollywood had done this film it would have been all moody lighting, scary music and SFX - it would have been just another badly done version of The Exorcist (which I think is also a great film).

I think what I found the most interesting was that because this film was done in such an understated manner, you could actually understand what Michaella was going through in a much more realistic, believable manner.

There is a beautiful scene where near the end of the film Michaella's boyfriend takes her to her parents house because she is in such a bad state. She is soon surrounded by her parents and two priest all praying and chanting at her trying to exorcise her demons - her boyfriend steps away as he really doesn't know where to put himself or what to do as he watches the chanting - he looks like he is witnessing the dark ages of superstition; all completely anachronistic to the time he lives in.

Documentary style was a great choice - there were no true good or bad guys. And Michaella truly believed that she was possessed. So in a really strange way it was more an analysis of faith and belief. At the end of the day she, her family and the creepy priest all absolutely believed that she was possessed therefore she was.

Was that a good or bad thing, considering that nowadays most people barely believe anything at all?

Maybe she did fight an epic battle against demons for our souls like Saint Margarita - can anyone prove otherwise?

I've seen both The Exorcism of Emily Rose and this one and found Requiem to be far better and realistic than the other. Emily Rose, in my opinion, was supposed to be commercial Hollywood film. It lulled me to sleep whereas Requiem kept me interested during its entirety. The chief reason for this being the phenomenal performance by the lead actress.

The direction of the film is great as well, since it clearly allows the viewers to form their own decision whether the girl is possessed or schizophrenic. Viewers make their decisions based on which side of the faith they lie. It runs a bit slow but is an excellent psycho-drama devoid of any gratuitous scary scenes.

So overall, in case you like scary stuff, watch Emily Rose; which is not such a great scary movie either. However, if you like psychological dramas and do not wish to watch movies that make you jump out of your seat, watch this one.

Just saw the US premiere of the film at the Seattle International Film Festival. I have seen the American version of this story, but this is a far different film with a different goal.

While the US version concentrated on the more sensational parts of the story and the aftermath, this movie is much more interested in the drama of the situation and avoids the 'creeky door' effect of the US version. The filmmaker is very dispassionate about attempting to convince you one way or the other if it was a possession or a woman's psychological breakdown and I find that most appealing. (The US version also tried to ride the fence in a sense, but it was more obvious which "side" it picked as there were many horror movie moments, not present in this version.) The acting was universally GREAT and all actors were so very convincing in their roles. It will be interesting to see how American audiences that venture out to see this version accept it (It will NOT be the hit that "Emily Rose" was here as this will be considered an art film in America and I doubt will be widely released.) Look for it in the US and check it out!

In the 70's, in the countryside of Germany, the epileptic Michaela Klingler (Sandra Hüller) joins the pedagogy course in the university against the will of her pious mother Marianne {Imogen Kogge). However her father Karl Klingler (Burghart Klaußner) rents a room in a sorority house and the religious Michaela travels to Tübingen. Along the semester, Michaela befriends her former high school mate Hanna Imhof (Anna Blomeier) that forces her to seek medical assistance and falls in love for the student of chemistry Stefan Weiser (Nicholas Reinke). When Michaela has a crisis, she stops using the necessary drugs and believes she is possessed by demons, and her health gets worse. She decides to seek out the priest Martin Borchert (Jens Harzer) that believes in exorcism instead of the progressive parochial priest Gerhard Landauer (Walter Schmidinger) that tries to convince her to go to a psychologist. When she has an intense breakdown, her mother together with priest Borchert decide to exorcise her with tragic consequences.

"Requiem" is an impressive dramatic movie about the fight between religion and science. In accordance with the introduction of this film, the story would be based on a true event. The acting is wonderful, giving credibility to the plot, and the dialogs and characters present a great discussion between the dogmatic religion and reason. Michaela is very well developed and it is easy to understand her confused state of mind since she had a repressed and overprotected upbringing. Hannah represents the logic and the reason; Marianne and priest Borchert represent the backward and dogmatic side of the church; Karl and priest Landauer represent the in-between these two sides. "Requiem" is not a pleasant or entertaining feature but highly recommended for fans of a powerful drama with magnificent acting and the excellent German cinema. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Requiem"

Top notch performance by Sandra Huller, who thoroughly deserved the Silver Bear for the best actress in this film at the Berlin Film Festival. A very good film on epilepsy and mental illness, not possession by the evil spirits. Ms Huller has been consistently performing well in the films,such as "In the Aisles" and "Toni Erdmann."