God Between Us

(Zwischen uns Gott, Rebecca Herneise, Austria, 2024)

Religious faith as the everyday experience of ordinary people is rarely treated seriously, or even straightforwardly depicted, in cinema. It is either magnified into extravagant lyricism (Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life [2019]), or mercilessly derided (Krazy House [2024]). Rebecca Herneise’s intimate documentary God Between Us takes a very different, more honest and intimate approach.

Herneise feels estranged from the beliefs of her Protestant upbringing. A committed agnostic, she decides to return to the culture of her family in order to understand it better, and attempt to come to terms with it.

The film marks the stages of Herneise’s involvement with – or absorption into – her chosen subject matter. It is a full 38 minutes before this documenteur herself steps away from a detached voice-over (derived from the written journal she keeps) and gets into live discussion participation. Then the filmic form used (eventually including Super-8 footage from her grandparents, both of whom are suffering from dementia) rises a notch or two above basic (i.e., a little bland) observational reportage.

By that point, Herneise has joined a literal “circle” in which theological discussions take place between her mother, aunts and uncles. It’s quite a portrait gallery. The film gets some intriguing effects from sometimes concentrating (within her single-camera coverage) on listeners rather than speakers. A stunning and surprising moment shows us how well these believers can break into three-part harmony singing!

Halfway through, the circle breaks down. Herneise shows us, without manipulating the situation or overtly judging it, that spiritual belief is an intensely individual, private affair. It creates divisions within couples, casts certain topics into the oblivion of silence (is there a ‘correct’ or right way to live that necessarily condemns – literally, to Hell – all who are on a different path? Is there a Devil?). And it causes rifts between siblings and generations.

In this increasingly fraught familial network, the filmmaker’s mother, Birgit, emerges as an especially fascinating figure. She poses probing questions to the others, and frequently expresses anger, as well as withdrawal. “I’ve often communicated with God”, she comments. “But nothing comes back.”

These people’s spiritual practices, as we gradually discover, take many forms: from solitary meditation to “charismatic” communities (my own early years as a Collapsed Catholic taught me how divisive the ‘speaking in tongues’ business can be within religious communities). And yet, even given their conflicts and disparities, God remains central to their daily lives.

Not since Frederick Wiseman’s portrait of a community of monks in Essene (1972) has a film gone so deeply into this paradox.

© Adrian Martin 18 December 2023