Since she began attending the Catholic catechumenate, Maria, a girl who adheres to the doctrine, has distanced herself from popular culture and resist[Expand All]
Since she began attending the Catholic catechumenate, Maria, a girl who adheres to the doctrine, has distanced herself from popular culture and resisted all kinds of temptations of Satan's incarnation. When she grew up, her strict mother still controlled her daily life and social situation in an absolutely authoritarian way. Devout Maria not only strived to meet the requirements, but also secretly made a dangerous decision to enable her autistic younger brother to speak. "Girls' Prayer" echoes the extreme behaviors of the characters in the film in a neat and perfect form. The fourteen titles of the entire film are borrowed from the short chapter about Jesus' mission. Fourteen long shots build up a ritual-like rigorous structure, repeatedly reminding people of Rosselini's "The Flower of Saint Francis" directed in 1950. The difference is that although this film seems to calmly depict Maria's inner journey of sacrificing and devoting herself in pursuit of her faith, it actually uses a strongly critical and satirical tone to explore how extreme faith fanaticism can become a variant of authoritarian high-pressure rule, with astonishing power.[Collapse]
