Ben (Eric Bana) is a social psychologist who’s come to Berlin to work on his second book, which is an examination of groupthink – its drawbacks and possible benefits. Ben is tagging along with the police on group suicide cases, which he suspects may be linked to a local cult.
His daughter Mazzy (Sadie Sink) joins him soon after, but we can tell that their relationship isn’t at its best, as she’s not quite thrilled to be in Germany and seems intent on getting Ben to go back to America. Ben escaped to Europe after his separation, and Mazzy feels angry that he doesn’t seem to be doing anything to piece things together again. At the same time, Mazzy gets close to this guy Martin (Jonas Dassler), who brings her closer to the cult in question.
A Sacrifice asks us to reflect on important questions about our existence, our planet, and whether we are willing to see ourselves as part of a community or just live our lives based on our own individual needs. Loneliness is a plague making its way through our society, and when you feel so alone, being a part of something can become more meaningful than drowning in the emptiness of your existence. It’s why young people are easy targets, like Martin, who has no family left after his grandmother’s passing, or even Mazzy, whose family is broken, with a father who fled to another continent, and a mother who wanted an eat, pray love experience.
However, the film meanders without any seeming purpose. We’re sometimes given scenes so brief that they feel like a way to dump exposition or establish prior connections. Nina (Sylvia Hoeks), the profiler attached to the group suicide case, and Ben start up a romantic relationship fairly quickly, but we’re not given much insight as to why they’re drawn to each other. Maybe it’s loneliness, however, it’s difficult for the viewer to feel anything for these characters and relationships if we’re given nothing of substance. Even Mazzy is just characterised as this angry teenage girl, with nothing more to her beyond that. Why the film chooses to frame things in this way all makes sense in the final act of the movie – though it requires viewers to take some fantastical leaps – but A Sacrifice depends on viewers sticking around till then.
A Sacrifice’s visuals are striking – a tussle between horror and beauty. Martin and Mazzy share a passionate kiss in front of a sunlit lake, but it is also a space where a young woman drowned herself to death just a few days prior. Similarly, the cult care about the environment and want to do something about it, yet they’ve also built a narrative which disregards the sanctity of life, encouraging members to die for the cause, which in the grand scheme of things doesn’t really have much impact. Communities can be powerful and positive spaces for individuals, but they can also quickly turn toxic and become spaces that propagate self-harm.
Like I said, the ideas that the film brings up are interesting, but they’re just not told in an interesting, memorable way. It’s not the kind of film that gets under your skin, which it kind of needs to be given the themes it folds into itself.
Review screener provided.
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