Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

petarmatic This film goes right in the heart of it all in Austria and for that matter in Western Europe as well. Islam is coming and Christans are afraid! That is the real truth! Struggle of Anna Maria and Nabil is a struggle of the worlds, different continents and cultures. But it has compatibility to it. Struggle between two great religions brings them together in love-hate relationship! Who will win? People in the park! They are the only the once who understand: There is no God and only thru sexual satisfaction you can achieve happiness before inevitable end!It is also a story of foreigners coming to Austria for a better life and they do not find any! Austrians are terrified from them but can not start ovens in Aushwitz or Dachau yet. That little bit of power USA and Russia still have, prevents them from doing that.Please try to obtain this film and watch it!

Reno Rangan The second movie of the 'Paradise' trilogy which sets in the summer holiday. Like I said in my previous review all the three stories happen in the same timeline in different locations with different themes and people. This movie which unfolds the story of 'Faith' of a woman in her 50s. And her devotion and affection towards Christ. Be ready to to see drama on a serious subject within a few dark humorous.Anna Maria is a nurse in a private hospital. In her summer vacation she begins to do a missionary work as spreading the religious awareness to the people of Austria. Some of her friends' support it by joining the prayer she orange in her home and sometime she goes door to door to every house in her neighborhood. As planned the expedition runs smoothly until her long gone husband return home which shook her. Her real faithful will be tested when he begins to interfere into her work.It was quite a nice second movie of the trilogy. It mainly speaks about the honest dedication of a religious stuffs. Sometime clash between another religious showed in the movie was very much true. The director's approach in this second movie was very much artistic. But in scenes where he showed about sex hunger like outdoor orgy and masturbation were totally not understandable. You know, unlike the first movie 'Paradise: Love' I thought it will be exactly opposite and a pure spiritual content story. The director had a different opinion in his mind and mixed with multiple sub-contents. In the end, the ends of both the movies were not much distinct but the audience will be divided especially adult and spiritual theme fans.7.5/10

JvH48 I saw this film as part of the Rotterdam film festival 2013. After having seen Paradise: Love in the Ghent film festival 2012, I was of course prepared for having to watch not-so-easy digestible scenes. In other words, some scenes you wished you were somewhere else, but still you feel the need to observe what's going on because you won't miss a tiny thread of what the film makers want to get across. Maybe I was prepared too much, surprisingly finding myself less bothered in my spectator role than with predecessor Paradise: Love. Especially the masturbation scene with a crucifix for which we were warned by several professional reviewers, progressed nicely under the blankets and proved suggestive rather than shown in the flesh.More problematic for me to watch were her house calls while attempting to convert people to the catholic faith, or at least to interest them for Saint Mary. She carries a nearly life-size statue of Saint Mary along during her missionary journey. Cold calling as she practices is unsympathetic by definition. It may come to no surprise that she meets resistance with most of the people, particularly in the poor neighborhoods with many immigrants she has chosen as her target. But it perfectly fits in her belief that all of Austria should become catholic, as propagated by a small ultra-religious group that counts her as a devoted member. We see a few scenes with group meetings, but these insights were kept relatively short, confined to relevant background information, no more no less.The film starts on the last working day before her holiday. We see her making preparations for the self-assigned task of spreading her belief. This is apparently her main occupation during her holidays, being happy that she now has all day for making house calls. Not an encouraging journey, however. She has to cope with indifference at best, more often than not with skepticism and hostility, and meets loaded questions to challenge the position she advocates when visiting people (for instance) living together out of wedlock. It is not always easy to explain the rules imposed by the catholic church, and one can always ask who has the right to determine what entails a mortal sin. Yet she seems unshakable in her belief. As a bonus we see vivid discussions from time to time, on average not with either side being really right or wrong.The story gets more and more interesting when her husband decides that it is time to reunite. Though it is not made very explicit, I assume they never formally divorced. They apparently lived apart a number of years for reasons not revealed to us. The husband is a follower of Allah, a fact that raises questions how these two got married in the first place. The husband is crippled, and totally dependent on a wheelchair. Of course, her belief considers his health situation as a sort of punishment, better said a divine retribution with a specific purpose. Her first action after his homecoming is to arrange a separate sleeping place for him, in spite of his stance that sleeping together is a matter of course when people are married. Their mutual relationship deteriorates further as the story progresses. Differences in beliefs are a core element in their disputes, in combination with her firm position to avoid all forms of sex and intimacy with her husband.These two story lines intertwine throughout the film, both with headstrong beliefs about right and wrong as fundamental driving forces. Difficult moments for us, viewers, are for example repeated self-flagellation scenes, when she considers herself to have underperformed in her missionary activities, or when she suspects any mark of infamy however small in our eyes. All of this fully justifies the title of this film. Though religion was lost on me many years ago, even I have to admit that the situation becomes more and more interesting alongside subsequent developments.All in all, a compelling performance of the main characters, especially Anna Maria who we are allowed to follow from close-by. The extent of religious belief we see is very extreme. We may recognize it from books and movies, mostly set in times long past or in areas far away. Such a strong and persistent devotion is rarely seen in western countries, but I can very well imagine that more or less underground movements like this exist even here. Fanatics are not time bound, and exist within many religions. We read and hear about it at present, leading to breakups between people, or at worst even physical abuse and destructive activities. This movie lets us re-consider our own position in this, letting us think why we have dropped the religious education we previously received. Yet I have no answer to those questions. The only constructive thing I could do was giving a maximum score for the audience award when leaving the theater. Not everyone seems to agree, since it ranked far below the top: 42th (out of 176) with score 4.016 (out of 5) from 703 votes.

Sindre Kaspersen Austrian screenwriter, producer and director Ulrich Seidl's fourth feature film which he co-wrote with screenwriter Veronika Franz and co-produced, is the second part of his Paradise trilogy which was preceded by "Paradise: Love" (2012) and succeeded by Paradise: Hope (2013). It premiered In competition at the 69th Venice Film Festival in 2012, was shot on location in Austria and is a Austria-Germany-France co-production which was produced by producers Philippe Bober and Christine Ruppert. It tells the story about a middle-aged Catholic missionary worker named Anna Maria who is a member of a minor group of religious adults called Legio Corbis Jesu who promises their number one man that they will make Austria Catholic. Anna Maria lives on her own, has a cat she tends to from time to time and likes to sing and play on her keyboard, but her relationship with religion which goes beyond comparison is the most important aspect of her life and after starting on her vacation she begins walking from door to door imposing her message upon whomever she meets and insisting that they join her in praying to the Virgin Mary.Distinctly and statically directed by Austrian filmmaker Ulrich Seidl, this quietly paced fictional tale which is narrated mostly from the main character's point of view, draws an exceptional and moving portrayal of an utterly devout and headstrong Austrian woman whose faith is challenged when she is reunited with her husband named Nabil. While notable for its naturalistic milieu depictions, distinct production design by production designers Andreas Donhauser and Renate Martin, cinematography by American cinematographer Edward Lachman and Austrian cinematographer Wolfgang Thaler, use of sound and use of colors, this character-driven and dialog-driven story and scrutinizing examination of religion which stands out amongst the director's three individual and connected films and which is as hilariously comical as it is seriously unsettling, depicts a heartrending and close to surreal study of character.This conversational, situational and theatrical drama which is set in Austria and where the very unorthodox relationship that the sister of the sex tourist in Kenya has with the man of her prayers is disturbed by the arrival of her spouse, is impelled and reinforced by its cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, subtle continuity, exceedingly brilliant dialog, instrumental and vocal music and the poignant acting performances by Austrian actress Maria Hofstätter and actor Nabil Saleh. A minimalistic, dramatic, cinematic and incisive narrative feature which gained, among other awards, the Special Jury Prize Ulrich Seidl at the 69th Venice Film Festival in 2012.