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(More customer reviews)This movie is not the regular hagiographical tearjerker that is usually the stuff we can expect on the lives of Saints. Now don't get me wrong.....I do love the tearjerkers! This movie is so different. Powerful acting, dramatic settings, the works. No wonder it picked up a few prizes at the Venice Film Festival back in 1995!
A solitary train traveling in a frigid countryside, a Carmelite nun (Edith Stein) staring into the camera in a semi-shadow, a young Edith Stein walking to a picturesque church to be baptized whereas a Carmelite nun (herself) with her face veiled looks into the church at the motions.....these powerful shots mark the beginning of this fantastic movie.
This movie is very clever in the fact that it is able to capture the present (1933 beginning of Nazi power and persecution)with its fear and uncertainties without ignoring the early life of Edith. Fast paced we get to see within 15 or so minutes her upbringing, her family's orthodox Jewish faith and her strength of character and soul. Also the painful realities of the sense of betrayal that the family feels at Edith's conversion can be keenly felt and is expressed superbly, as she is misunderstood by her University colleagues, family and later her fellow nuns as trying to escape the persecution and seeking an 'easy way out'.
We also see her struggles in adapting herself to conventual life.....it is so realistically played that amidst Edith's pain and sorrow, we can take a pause and smile.....for in her we recognize a person who was truly an academic and had not done a day's servile work in her past!But even in this she is victorious.What makes her victorious? Her desire to love her Lord Jesus, deny herself, carry her cross and follow Him!
And so the movie goes on.
The Seven chambers described by Saint Teresa de Jesus of Avila is so well explained first directly in a scene and in an abstract manner towards the end that the whole experience becomes surreal.
Regarding the picture quality....do not expect HD type of print. It is a little grainy considering that it is 15 years old, but even this has its own charms. It renders it a certain sense of nostalgia. It is 110 minutes long, in Italian with English and Spanish subtitles.
This DVD has no special features though it comes with 16 page booklet that has a film essay, a biography of Saint Edith Stein and study questions. I also comes with a prayer card with quotes by the saint on the reverse.
To conclude this is a poignant, powerful portrayal of a great saint, convert, martyr and philosophical genius of the 20th century.....and at the end one wishes just to be silent and ponder, meditate and marvel at a great gift given by God in a period of great darkness and inhumanity.
This movie is for everyone and anyone who is a student of Carmelite studies and of the Teresian school of thought....and of course a way to first know a much over looked saint who lived in the not so distant past.
Santa Teresia Benedicta a Cruce, ora pro nobis!
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. pray for us!
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This DVD contains the following language tracks: Italian with English or Spanish subtitles
This is a moving, artistic portrayal of the life of Jewish philosopher, Catholic convert and Carmelite martyr, Edith Stein, capturing the interior struggles of this extraordinary woman, as well as the great conflicts from her decision to convert to Catholicism. Deeply influenced by the writings of St. Teresa of Avila, she joined the Carmelites and took the name of Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, and was put to death in Auschwitz in 1942, and canonized by John Paul II in 1998. This film shows how two worlds were united within her, the Jew and the Christian, in absolute coherence in her search for truth. She has become one of the most beautiful symbols in a horrifying period of history who sought to transform her sufferings under the Nazis into a journey through the "interior castle" as the way to mystical union with God. One phrase, "Love Conquers Fear" embodies her philosophy of life. Shot in a kind of a rich expressionist realism, it's backed by poignant chant music that makes every frame haunting and alive. Actress Maia Morgenstern (The Passion of the Christ) stars in a powerful performance as Stein. Includes a 16 page Collector's Booklet by Steven Greydanus and Carl Olson.
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