Three To Be Crucified

The date and time for the last sequence in Seditiosa was set for Sunday, July 9th, in the year of our lady 2023. The main cast and crew were picked up at 8 in the morning, some like Simonne, from their homes, and the large cast of over 30 gathered at one agreed upon location at 11 am where a large bus was waiting for them. The difference in time was simple, the principal cast, Dani and Mila required a couple of hours for all that make up and there was no point of having the large cast sitting there waiting.

It was expected to be a very exciting day and scary at the same time. Exciting for the big cast that, so far, had participated in most of the dramatic sequences leading to this moment. They were going to be participants and spectators of a very strange and intense passion play.

It was scary for the crew who had the responsibility to bring it all to come to pass, but most importantly it was pretty spine-chilling for the protagonists that were going to suffer the real pains of crucifixion without anything on to protect them from the windy cold of winter.

Jac wanted to be done with the production that day and he was more or less confident about it. As a matter of fact he already ordered the rum, and other drinks for the wrap-up party which was planned to take place at the location at the end of the shoot that day. He could not predict what was going to happen, no one could.

The entire cast, including Erix, who did not yet go away, and the crew assembled at the location that morning, a sunny, cold and cloudless morning, and got ready for the big show.

Jac needed a few more takes of the long walk, and since they all had to go down the long path again, he took that opportunity to get some shots of the three protagonists and their soldiers on their Via Crucis down and up to the Hill of Skulls.

The work was intense, there was an incredible tension in the air. The shooting started with the procession arriving to the area, where each of the women were pushed to the posts where they were going to be crucified.

One condemned at a time was pushed down to their patibulums to be nailed to the wood to then be raised up to their posts. The three suffered the agonies of the cross, under the bright sun, embraced by a cold wind coming down from the snowy mountains. The spectators watching in awe at the three women suffering the indignities of their crucifixion. Joanna and Deborah approached them at one point, there were some exchanges between Yahel and Joanna with a surprising touch that I will not reveal.

Jac made sure to have a good number of takes of the crowds watching the event, their reactions, concentrating in some of the principals including a few lines of dialogue between the high priest and his people, another with Casper.

It was cold, very cold and getting colder, the day was running fast. The nailing of each of the women and the raising up to the post, one at a time, took time, a long time.

There were so many things Jac planned to do but at one point he realized that the time was running short and he was not going to be able to complete what he wanted to accomplish that day.

There’s a line in Pygmalion where Hendrix (Jac’s character) says to Vera (Mila’s character) sometimes, in cinema, things don’t happen the way one wants, this is one of those times.

He was living that impossible moment that afternoon of July 9th. He was very upset, tense, and everyone could see that. He summoned his production assistant to tell her that there wasn’t going to be a wrap-up party, not then, maybe not ever.

The sun was behind the hills, and the cold wind was increasing, Jac knew he had to finish and made sure to have some long shots of the crowd leaving the area and some very long shots of the three women suffering their agony and freezing up on their crosses. When he felt he had enough of a long shot of the Crucified Three, Jac called it a day and the women let out a collective sigh of relief, accompanied by curses and some laughter.

The cast and the crew went back up to the changing area and then to have their meal. There wasn’t going to be any drinking. There was a larger group this time around, so the main table wasn’t enough for everyone. There were two other tables in smaller dinning rooms. One of those rooms, with a table for 6 with very nice views, was taken by the protagonists and a couple of the supporting actors.

Jac decided to share a table in the cold and windy outside with the two drivers. Jac thought at that moment that if the Crucified Three could put up with the freezing wind while naked and crucified, then he could certainly take some cold wind, wearing his hoody and having some food.

Maybe some people thought he wanted to share his time with the drivers, which was partly true, but the main reason he stayed out in the cold was because he didn’t want to talk to anyone in the cast or crew, he was in a terrible mood, the tension had gotten to him.

One good and interesting moment came when Jac was arriving to the dining area when he came across a friend from the very old days, with whom he had a moment or two way back then and who was visiting the resort with some family. The woman was impressed to see all those actors climbing up the hill to the resort. She even got some autographs from a couple of them that apparently were known to her.

After the meal was over and all things were packed in the transportation vehicles, the entire entourage headed back to the city. Jac was silent all the way. He had to decide if he needed another day.

But the funds were short and the time was shorter.

With a baby shoe string budget… or maybe a tong string budget, Jac was pulling out a big production in terms of what was involved and in a relatively short time, in less than 12 days of production, not 5 to 6 weeks, as it normally happens.

The style of production wasn’t new to him. Seditiosa is a very low budget film by any standards, yes. Films like Maleficarum, Justine, Dead But Dreaming, Olalla and even Barbazul, that ended up in festivals and were screened at movie theaters, are also very low budget films and yet they have the look of big budget movies. But each of them had more time. Maleficarum was shot in 5 weeks, of 5 days shooting per week, and there was no big Make-Up work because the protagonists, Amy and Mila didn’t have tattoos. However, none of those films needed to transport 40 people to the faraway location, nor there was the need to feed them all every one of those shooting days. There were other differences too. But the basic issues of time and money were the big concerns.

The most important and valuable part of this production was that Jac and the Crucified Three were putting their soul in the making of a daring film, and what was even more precious is that the three protagonists were truly suffering for the art. The crucifixion scene had to be as good it should be, regardless of how little money there was.

There was a filmmakers conference in La Paz a few years back, where some well known filmmakers from Europe visited the Andean, landlocked country to talk about low budget films as the way to go in countries like Bolivia. The low budget films they had in mind were from 250,000 up. They didn’t know Jac, of course. He didn’t go to the conference, he thought it would be a waste of his time. Of course, if they were willing to pay him, he could teach them a thing or two.

No, producing a big film with little money wasn’t new to Jac, but this time it was more difficult for many reasons, handling the big cast, the far off location, all the details. All of that got to him that day. And now he was facing the troubling possibility that he needed another day. He alerted his principal suffering cast of that eventuality. They went pale.

He told them he was going to go over the materials he shot that day and decide if he needed another grueling day for those wonderful, beautiful and courageous women to suffer another long and cold day on the cross. I’ll discuss what was decided in our next post.

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