The Via Crucis of the Crucifixas – Part Two

That second day of July was dedicated to the sentencing and the long Via Crucis for the condenmed.

Not long before this moment, Yahel and her companions had taken a long journey from the Hill of the Skulls, all the way to the market. They are beginning the journey back, but this time they have the bloody marks of the whip on their backs, the heavy logs on their shoulders, their feet unprotected and not to mention, they are exposed to all, almost naked.

One recent comment suggested that Judith, the rebel who incited the others to confront the Romans, should walk totally naked, as an example. There was such discussion during the early exchanges for the script but it was discarded. If the loin cloths are going to be taken off, it should happen when they are up on their crosses.

The walk began at the foot of the Stage of Cruelty where, after the sentencing. All three protagonists, one at a time, are dragged down from the stage to pick up their heavy logs to begin their march to their cruel execution.

It is a long, very long walk, over harsh terrain, going down hill at first, for most of the walk, and going up again to reach the Hill of Skulls. The entire cast and crew were there to accompany the condemned on their walk to their cruel execution.

As the procession passed by the market, where the three were arrested, the crowd following them were teasing, screaming, calling for them to move faster. Not everyone, of course. There were those who were crying.

After the market, The Three To Be Crucified walked by the hill where Yahel cured the man who was believed to be possessed by demons and by the tree where she was healing Deborah’s wounds after saving her from being stoned to death.

In that spot Yahel stumbled and was about to fall, she was helped to get back on her feet by her torturers using the whip as encouragement; the whipped woman got up only to go down on her knees again and be force back on her feet with more lashes.

There is a nice clip of this moment at Patreon

https://www.patreon.com/rfpix

Magdalena was at the head of the procession, a soldier pushing her to move on, behind her was Judith and her soldier who was just as nasty, and a bit farther way was Yahel, with the two tortures using their whips to make her move.

The walk became longer for the cast because after they covered the length of each segment of the long journey, they had to stop, return to a selected point to do it all over again, for the cameras to get different angles and takes of the same situation, including the times Yahel had to fall to be whipped into getting up.

The afternoon was advancing faster than the procession, the changes in the light were giving the image an interesting look but those changes were a source of worries for the director.

After the procession passed the ‘tree’ area, they had to walk down a very narrow path and uneven terrain that made the via crucis of the three much more difficult, and painful.

At the edge of that part of the walk there’s a very steep path down to the area where the three women rescued Deborah from a certain death by stoning.

Ligia, who plays Deborah, is going to be the lead in a new film where a slave suffers a three part sentence to the cross for three different crimes, stealing, running away and murdering a centurion. But that’s a discussion for the future.

As the light of the sun began to hide behind the mountains surrounding the location, the long march to the crucifixion began the journey down the steep rocky path.

During Yahel’s painful and exhausting trudge her tormentors seemed to relish whipping her to keep her on a steady step.

Beto, who plays the Governor, commented at one point that the entire shooting where he participated was simply amazing, including the long walk. He was with Fermin, who plays his sidekick and Monica, who plays his wife, far behind the crowd and they had a mesmerizing view of the entire scene, the walk, the crew working on the shooting of the takes, all the work happening in front of him.

For a shoe string budget, if that we can call it that, the production was truly amazing.

As the march of pain was passing by the stoning area, it was becoming clear to Jac that the Crucifixion Sequence was not going to take place that day. He didn’t say anything to anyone because he was too busy with the camera and directing the action.

The director/cinematographer was at the edge of the Hill of skulls area capturing the cortege going up the hill, towards him. He was seeing the fast expanding shadows covering up the entire area as the sun was beginning to hide from view behind the mountains, in high contrast with the beginning of the story, when Yahel and her companions walked down that same hill on their way to the market under a bright mid morning sun.

The Crucified Three had walked down that hill, having a conversation, not imagining that they would be involved in a series of events that would take them back to this point, walking up the same hill, but this time naked, beaten, on their way to their crucifixion.

When the crucifixion parade finally reached the top of the hill Jac called it a day, not before shootting some dialogue takes with Erix, who plays the high priest, because the actor was leaving for NY and there was a chance that he was not going to be around to shoot the crucifixion scene the next time around, whenever that would happen.

The whole cast and crew were told that the production wasn’t over and that they would be notified when the next shooting day would be.

Soon after the cast and crew were all enjoying their well earned meal after which the were ready to leave the location until the next time.

The day was over but the production was not. The hardest part was still in the future. A sense of uncertainty came upon Jac as he sat in the van transporting him back home.

It doesn’t matter how much experience one has, how many times one makes a movie, a crucifixion movie in particular, every production has its own problems to be resolved, its own conflicts, its own terrors, and Seditiosa was not different.

The production was nearing to wrapping it up. One more day and that would be it, or so Jac thought.

I will go into the details of the production of the Crucifixion Sequence next; and maybe deal with some of the comments that came my way.

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