Od misterium do multipleksu. Dzieje i formy filmu pasyjnego
From Mystery Play to Multiplex: The History and Forms of the Passion Film

Summary/Abstract: The article is a review of Grzegorz Nadgrodkiewicz’s book Film pasyjny. Geneza, kanon i peryferie subgatunku [The Passion Film: Origins, Canon, and Periphery of the Sub-Genre] (2025). According to the reviewer, the monograph proposes a coherent and well-considered concept of the Passion film as a sub-genre with clearly defined distinguishing features. Nadgrodkiewicz offers a discussion of the Passion film as a form constituted through complex translational processes occurring between the Bible, mystery play, and cinema. The review emphasises the author’s methodological consistency, with inspirations from the New Film History, cinema archaeology, neoformalism, and transmedial narratology. An important strength of the monograph is the distinction between two principal currents within the sub-genre: the “mystery” strand, rooted in the tradition of Passion plays, and the “epic” strand, associated in particular with spectacular Hollywood cinema. The book combines academic rigor with the author’s personal engagement, which lends it additional interpretative depth. In the reviewer’s assessment, the publication constitutes an important and inspiring contribution to academic reflection on the Passion film and its place in film history.

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