Exploring the Language of Suffering and Redemption through Discursive Manifestations of the Religious in Film Reviews
Exploring the Language of Suffering and Redemption through Discursive Manifestations of the Religious in Film Reviews

Summary/Abstract: This paper explores the manifestations of religious discourse in filmreviews, particularly focusing on the discursive markers of suffering andredemption. It analyses two sets of reviews of the religious films The Passion ofthe Christ and The Exorcist as a means of creating and deciphering meaning andobserves how specific linguistic items reveal distinct representations ofsuffering within religious episodes. The reviews highlight the profoundemotional and physical responses elicited by these films, underscoring thedeep spiritual and existential impact on the viewers. In addition, the focus alsolies on the connection between divine and mortal suffering, an intricate topicexamined through the lens of salvation. In this respect, critics had in viewepisodes of great emotional and spiritual intensity, as Christ’s sacrifice,mirrored by the possessed girl’s plea for divine intervention and salvation.Our study intends to confirm that religious discourse in film reviewsserves as a process of self-expression, effectively conveying complex emotionaland spiritual reactions. The audience, composed of simple viewers and criticsalike, are intrigued and persuaded into exploring the intense manifestations ofreligion in cinematic discourse. This is the reason why the aim of this paper isto identify and to analyse such discursive manifestations of the religious withinfilm reviews, while focusing upon the manner in which certain feelings andemotional responses, such as suffering and redemption, are transmitted.

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