Synopsis
Like many,
Dreyer was deeply impressed by
Griffith's
Intolerance, and this ambitious epic demonstrates the perils of temptation through four sequential stories set during the life of Christ, the era of the Spanish Inquisition, the French Revolution and the Russo-Finnish War of 1918. Dealing with lofty abstractions rather than illuminating details, the film may be at odds with the director's later work, but its sweeping landscapes and huge, solid-looking sets combine with a sure sense of pace to produce stirring spectacle.
