Paradise: Faith

The second film in Austrian filmmaker Ulrich Seidl's Paradise trilogy, Faith follows a minor character from the above-reviewed opener Paradise: Love. As Seidl has pointed out, each of the films can stands on its own, despite constants in the filmmaking style (featuring static long and medium shots, and no close-ups or mood music), an improvisational blend of actors and non-actors, and a focus on extreme, raw emotions. In Faith, a celibate, middle-aged Austrian woman named Anna Maria (Maria Hofstätter) belongs to a Catholic religious sect with Jehovah's Witnesses-like attributes. Between prayer meetings, she parades a statue of the Holy Virgin from one residence to another, trying to bring piety to the nation. The people who actually invite Anna Maria inside (a strung-out Russian prostitute, for instance) are often worse than the sinners who simply refuse to open their doors to her. But the real test of Anna Maria's zeal is at home, where her estranged husband (Nabil Saleh) returns. A Muslim Egyptian confined to a wheelchair, he alternatively cajoles her for sex (about which Anna Maria seems to have enough neuroses already) or denigrates her religion and berates her for being a "whore." Although occasionally shocking, Seidl's film powerfully dramatizes the agonies (which are more evident here than the ecstasies) of living as a devout Christian missionary. A provocative drama, this is recommended. (C. Cassady)