The Fourteenth Stations of the Cross

Since starting to attend Catholic catechesis classes, Maria, a girl who abides by the teachings, has stayed away from popular culture and resisted various temptations from the incarnation of Satan. When she grew up, her strict mother still restricted her daily life and friends in an absolutely authoritarian way. The devout Maria not only worked hard to meet the requirements, but also secretly made a dangerous decision in order to let her autistic brother speak. "A Girl's Prayer" responds to the extreme behavior of the characters in the film in a neat and perfect way. The fourteen titles in the film are borrowed from the short chapter of Jesus' crucifixion; the fourteen long shots create a rigorous ritual structure, which is reminiscent of "Flowers of St. Francis" directed by Rossellini in 1950. The difference is that this film seems to be a calm profile of Maria's journey of sacrificing her faith in pursuit of faith, but in fact it uses a strongly critical and allegorical tone to explore how extreme religious fanaticism can become a variant of authoritarian and high-pressure rule. It is astonishingly powerful.