Requiem

Requiem ***1/2

"Requiem" is based on the story that inspired that Hollywood film last year "The Exorcism of Emily Rose." However, while the story of "Emily Rose" was mostly the court trial that occured after the incident, "Requiem" is the events leading up to that. These are two films that could be seen back to back, as long as you don't mind that the first part is in German and the second part in English. If you don't mind that little detail, than this is a perfect double feature.

"Requiem" slowly tells its tale of Michaela Klingler, a young woman whose past has made it very difficult for her to find a proper education. Every now and then she will come down with a series of epileptic fits. After it subdues for some time, she decides to apply to college. When she gets accepted, it takes a bit of pulling teeth to convince her mother that it is alright for her to go. Her father gives her permission, and Michaela is now going off into the world on her own. It starts off fine, but as the weeks go on she begins to hear voices and see visions. Her roommate comes home multiple times to find Michaela on the floor, passed out. Michaela decides to find help in a greater power, and tells the local priest and family friend about these visions and voices she keeps hearing. While reluctant at first to believe her, the priest eventually sees that Michaela is correct in her assumptions: that she is becoming possessed by a demon greater than her, and decides that he must stop it.

"Requiem" does not tell a tale that we haven't seen before, but it tells it in such perfection. You really are engrossed to everything that happens on screen, and every minute is handled to the point where we could see someone riding a bike for several seconds and not be bored by it. I argue with so many people about why "The Exorcist" isn't very scary, but this is. It is more eerie to find a normal looking girl screaming on the floor because of something that we the viewer can't see, than to see a young girl in green makeup screaming on a bed. Exorcism and demon stories are as old as can be, but "Requiem" is able to tell this story without making us feel like we've seen this before. It is also highlighted by the powerful preformance of Sandra Huller, whose Michaela is constantly naive and reluctant to do anything about her problem. All she wants is to be normal, go to school, go to parties, have a boyfriend, have friends, etc, but what she needs to accept is that this is normal for her. If she was meant to live this life than that might be the path that she needs to go down. This is a film well worth scoping out, tired of exorcisms or not.