Bayview Entertainment, who recently released another religious-themed film called The Lord Doesn’t Hate You (click here for review), is also set to distribute Marco Lui’s cyber-religious Italian-language film, Cripta. Though Cripta also deals with life, death, and sacrifice, it does so as a more educational and comedic film, rather than being mired in a character’s existential exploration. Though the pacing was slow at times and the plot repetitive, Cripta is a light and easy movie to watch.

Cripta follows six friends who are passionate about archaeology and learning. With summer approaching, the friends meet online before class to discuss their vacation plans. Their beloved professor arrives to give the final lesson, which gives them insight into religious scriptures and emphasizes keeping truth at the center of their research. Soon into the class, their screens are taken over by a seemingly omniscient being who announces that they and their professor will die unless they successfully answer a series of questions centered around Christianity. As each level becomes progressively harder, the friends must work together to beat the clock and find salvation for themselves and their professor.

Cripta discusses “the truth”, the importance of the words we use and their translation, and man’s relationship with God in a way that is accessible to both believers and atheists alike. Through a series of nine rounds of testing which seemed to reference Dante’s nine circles of hell, the audience is taken on a journey that centers around faith, but explorers faith through the historical record, something like the DaVinci Code. However, at times, the story feels stationary as all of the action takes place on computers and it is their only way of interacting with each other as well as the seemingly evil computer hacker. It is a modern and youthful way to approach a subject as old as our recorded time while asking and answering big questions about Christianity and its placement in time.

A minor gripe is that Cripta feels repetitive when entire conversations were repeated not just twice, but three times, which seemed like filler. The plot is a series of tests where they are at the mercy of a powerful entity, however, at no point does the drama, tension, consequences, or even character development escalate. Though there is a minor plot twist, I found it to be anti-climatic and devoid of the “ah-ha” effect that plot twists are supposed to induce for the audience. After this anti-climactic climax, there were an additional 20 minutes that were completely expositional, which very quickly began to feel like Sunday School — the movie would have been better packaged had it ended when the tests were over instead of preaching to the audience.

Cripta plays out like a videogame mixed with an episode of VeggieTales. Though I appreciated the attempt to pose big and brave questions about man and how religion supersedes us, similar to the way that Primer explores big ideas of physics, I feel the delivery of Cripta fell flat, and overall, the movie is unfortunately forgettable. Despite its missteps, Marco Lui did succeed in integrating technology into a film in a seamless way, and the banter between the teens was comedic and enjoyable. A film that would be good, clean fun for archeology and religion nerds, Cripta can be downloaded on Marco Lui’s website or via DVD.

MOVIE RATING — 5.5 out of 10 ☠️

PULLQUOTES

1. Cripta plays out like a videogame mixed with an episode of VeggieTales.
2. [Cripta] is a modern and youthful way to approach a subject as old as our recorded time while asking and answering big questions about Christianity…
3. The plot is a series of tests where they are at the mercy of a powerful entity, however, at no point does the drama, tension, consequences, or even character development escalate.