Maria-Conception-Action: Hermann Nitsch (S)

'Since 1963, the German avant gardist Hermann Nitsch has created a series of live happenings, which (like Otto Muehl's Sodoma), combine cruelty, sexuality, defilement, and visual shock for purposes of purification, and 'ab-reaction' of sado-masochist impulses. This is a film record of his most controversial creation: the crucifixion of a young woman, the disemboweling of a lamb carcass, and her defilement with it. The idea of redemption is intensified into pornography to offer a forbidden glance into our prohibited sado-masochist impulses.' - Amos Vogel, 'Film As a Subversive Art' (1974)