Exorcism Movies -- The Exorcist

It’s interesting how some films are viewed by some people as a great work of art and by others as a piece of trash. For instance, Ernest Scared Stupid comes to mind.

I was just kidding. No one would doubt that was Jim Varney’s masterpiece.

Anyway, when issues of faith are added to the mix, arguments over the films become even more heated. Some films, such as Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ and Monty Python’s Life of Brian, were picketed by Christian groups when they were released -- even though the film’s creators seemed to genuinely believe their films were positive representations of the Christian faith.

I was a kid when The Exorcist came out in 1973, and there was no way my parents would let me get near the film. But I remember the controversy of the time. People were terrified, and there were rumors of people passing out in theaters, having strokes and heart attacks. The story of priests who battle demons inside a little girl was certainly not anything that was considered proper viewing for people in my church.

But my brother was going to Princeton Seminary at the time, and he came back to California to work at Yosemite National Park. He brought with him a friend who was also attending Princeton and who would also be working at Yosemite for the summer. She brought with her a paperback of William Peter Blatty's novel, The Exorcist. (Blatty also wrote the screenplay for the film.) I was surprised to hear her argue that the story was a very Christian one.

Blatty himself believes he told a Christian story. He felt the violence, the foul and blasphemous language, and even the crude sexual imagery involving a young girl were necessary to show the contrast between the evil in this world and God’s grace. William Friedkin, the director of the film, says that he thought he was telling a story of the mystery of faith, rather than a horror movie. (He has come to accept it is a horror movie. He also says he has come to believe in the existence of evil and God since he made the film.)

I believe that the perspective of the film is a Christian perspective. The question for a Christian is whether watching a film with such vile content could ever be worthwhile.

Fortunately, we don’t have to deal with such difficult questions here at Movie Churches. We just look at how clergy and churches are presented in a film and evaluate how many steeples they earn.

The Roman Catholic Church in the film is presented as the only Christian organization that believes in demonic possession and exorcism. (In fact, many Protestant denominations, especially those of the charismatic and Pentecostal variety, are even more obsessed with such things.) But the Catholic Church is presented as being embarrassed about their own beliefs about demons.

Linda Blair plays Regan, the demon possessed girl; Ellen Burstyn plays Chris, Regan’s mother. Chris protests that she has no religious beliefs of her own, but she goes to the church as a last resort to help her daughter.  The New Testament has many stories of parents coming to Jesus in desperation to heal their children, and Chris would have fit right in with those stories.

There are three priest presented in the film. There is Father Dyer (played by William O’Malley) who does not get involved in the exorcism. He seems to prefer going to swanky Georgetown cocktail parties and hanging out with the rich and famous. He says his idea of heaven is a party where he can play the piano and sing standards to the entertainment of the heavenly crowds. Father Dyer does not raise the clergy Steeple Rating in the film very high.

Father Merrin (played by Max von Sydow) is an older priest who has battled demons through the years. It has taken a toll on his health, but he continues to fight the good fight.

But the story is really about Father Karras (played by Jason Miller). He is a man battling doubt before he ever encounters Regan. He’s not only a priest but also a psychiatrist, and he initially dismisses the idea of demonic possession as misdiagnosed psychiatric problems. His mother’s decline into poverty, illness, and eventually death is bringing him to doubt his faith.

We see Karras in various situations, in a subway passing a beggar (“Father, would you help an old altar boy, I’m a Catholic”) and passing by mentally ill women in the asylum where his mother is housed, showing no compassion to those in need. He doesn’t even stop to talk to these hurting people.

After encountering Regan, he begins to change. The demons within the girl mock Karras, telling him his mother is in hell and pelting him with obscenity and blasphemy.  But with the help of Father Merrin, he continues to fight for the girl, using Catholic rituals and Scripture. The Trinity and the blood of Christ are often cited by the priests as the source of power.

Ultimately, Father Karras is willing to give up his own life for Regan’s sake (“Take me!”), a reflection of Christ’s sacrifice.

So a worthy finish gives the church and the priests of The Exorcist three out of four steeples.

Exorcism Movies -- Pastorela

Pastorela (2011)

C. S. Lewis wrote in the preface to The Screwtape Letters, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”

I’ve been to churches that have done both of these things. I’ve been to churches that explicitly teach that there are no such beings as Satan or his demons; at best they are metaphors for naughtiness. And I’ve been to churches that spend so much time praying that the devil will be banished that it almost begins to sound like the devil should be paying rent for the room he’s taking in their heads.

The church in the 2011 Spanish language film Pastorela takes another tack altogether; it seems to give the devil a place of honor. The film is about a Catholic church in Mexico City that annually puts on a Pastorela, a nativity play in the tradition of the Mystery plays of Medieval Europe. It tells the creation of Adam and Eve and follows history up through the birth of Christ. But apparently, the most coveted role is that of Satan, who tries to persuade the shepherds and Magi not to worship the Christ Child. Satan is given the cleverest lines and is portrayed as witty and charming.

In this film, Satan isn’t just allowed to rule the stage, he seems to rule the church.

The little church in the film has a long tradition of Pastorelas, and for years a policeman, Jesus, has had the part of the devil. But the parish priest dies (from a heart attack while having sex with a nun) and the replacement priest, Padre Edmundo Posadas, casts someone else in the role of the devil. We first see Posadas performing an exorcism. When the victim of exorcism vomits on the priest, the priest slugs him.

Did I mention this is a comedy?

Most of the rest of the film is a war between the policeman and the priest over the role of Satan. But each seems to give the Devil a large role in their lives.

Everyone in the film, including the priests and the nuns, swears profusely. A particularly winning line from a priest is “God bless you and go (expletive) your mother!” which encapsulates blasphemy and vulgarity and hostility together rather smugly.

We begin to suspect as the film goes on that the exorcist priest has himself become possessed. And the war of roles in the play becomes a literal war which includes guns, swords, and a beheading.

I’ve heard the phrase, “That’s what Christmas is all about” said about many things, but not about anything that is said or done in the church in this film. Usually 1 Steeple is the lowest rating we give any Movie Church (and that has included churches where clergy murdered people), but we’re making an exception here and giving the church in Pastorela Zero Steeples.

Exorcism Movies -- The Rite

One of my favorite film credits of all time is found at the beginning of the movie Fargo. We see the words, “This is a true story.” We then see a bizarre story of kidnapping and murder. And then, in the credits at the end of the film, there’s the usual disclaimer that none of what we saw was true at all. It was all in fun for the Coen brothers, who wrote and directed the film. The same trick was famously used for The Blair Witch Project, which used an elaborate internet campaign (when the internet was all new) to sell itself as a film made with “found footage.” Don’t mean to spoil things for you, but it was all pretend.

All kinds of exorcism films make the “truth” claim, including this week’s The Rite (2011), which is promoted as “inspired by a true story,” but the end credits don’t disavow the claims. In fact, the end credits note that Father Lucas Trevant (played by Anthony Hopkins) has performed over 2,000 exorcisms, and Michael Novak (played by Colin O’Donoghue) is one of 14 Catholic exorcists in the United States, working out of Chicago.

The vast majority of exorcists in films are Catholic priests. The film The Unborn had an exorcist Rabbi (Gary Oldman) with an assist from an Episcopal priest (Idris Elba), but that’s an exception.

The Rite begins with Novak living at home with his father, a mortician. Their house doubles as a mortuary, so one can understand Novak’s desire to move on. The priesthood is the most affordable option he can imagine. Michael takes admissions tests and does well. He scores highest on psychology and art history and not so well on theology, which seems like it might be a good thing for a priest to understand.

Before taking his vows, Michael does have some questions about becoming a priest, such as, does he believe in God and such. Those seem like kind of important questions, but one night one of the priests from the seminary barely avoids getting hit by a car. The car swerves and hits a woman. The woman sees Michael’s collar and asks for last rites. He comforts her and gives her the rites (in a rather moving scene).

Michael considers dropping out of the priesthood because of his lack of faith, but his superior suggests that instead, he should go to exorcism school in Rome. The classes are taught by Father Xavier, but when Michael expresses his doubts about the reality of demon possession, Xavier sends him to see Father Lucas who is described as a Jesuit, Welsh, and unorthodox.

Michael watches Lucas treat a 16 year old pregnant girl. Michael asks if the girl doesn’t simply have psychological issues, but Lucas tries to convince him by having the girl perform a mindreading trick (like the fortune telling slave of Acts 16). Lucas tries to learn the demon’s name, but the demon is unwilling to co-operate. Lucas tries to drive the demon out, but explains that the process can take weeks or even years. The exorcism does not go well; the girl become violent, choking Michael.

Eventually this woman is hospitalized, and Father Lucas is called in. The woman takes her own life, and , needless to say, Father Lucas is discouraged.

And then Father Lucas is himself possessed by a demon. We see him slap a little girl in a park when she approaches him and asks to have her doll blessed.

It is, of course, up to Michael to exorcise Father Lucas. Seeing the devil in Lucas brings Michael to believe in the Devil, but also in God. He drives out the demon using the traditional ritual. The ritual uses Psalm 91, which was also used in The Unborn. It seems to be the go to Psalm for exorcism.

The exorcism for Father Lucas is successful. Michael really believes now and has found his calling.

An “inspired by a true story” makes one wonder what is true and what is not. For instance, I really wondered about a priest being demon possessed. It seems like a believer would have the Holy Spirit and that wouldn’t happen. But Father Lucas says some days he doubts and doesn’t know whether he believes in “God or the Devil or Santa or Tinker Bell.”

We don’t have to sort out truth from fiction here at Movie Churches, we just take the church as it is on the screen. So while I was impressed by the orthodoxy of the exorcism ritual, claiming the power of the Blood of Jesus for forgiveness and the power of the Resurrection, the chance of a priest being possessed earns some demerits. So we’re giving the Church in The Rite just two steeples.

Exorcism Movies: The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Halloween is coming, which means Movie Churches is once again taking a month to celebrate scary things in churches. We aren’t talking about that casserole dish at the potluck that looks like pork in jello or teaching Junior High Sunday School. We’re talking about a particular subgenre of horror films this month: exorcism films. Every since 1973's blockbuster, The Exorcist, there has been a steady stream of film about demonic possession. I've always thought someone should make a film about the exorcism Jesus performed in Mark 5.)

There are people who don't think Christians should watch horror films, let alone write about them. Let alone make them. When Scott Derrickson, the writer and director of The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), was asked whether Christians should make horror films, he said, "How can a Christian not do horror films? No one is more equipped to do horror films than a Christian." (Derrickson is a graduate of Biola University, a private Christian school. He is also the director of next month's Marvel release, Dr. Strange.)

That quote might be particularly true about exorcism films, because they're all about the confrontation of God vs. the devil, good vs. evil. For Christians, this confrontation is more than just metaphor.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose is “based on a true story.” Studios and marketeers like to say that a lot when promoting horror films, but Derrickson insists this one really is, really! The film blends genres, joining a horror film and a courtroom drama.

Father Moore (Tom Wilkinson) is on trial for the murder of Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter), a young woman who died in the process of an exorcism. The film follows the trial and flashes back to the exorcism.

We don't get a lot of church in the film, but we get a lot of the priest, Father Moore. He befriends Emily and her family and tries to meet her spiritual needs. He works with doctors in treating Emily, but eventually, Emily takes a turn for the worse. He continues to try to minister to her but her health continues to decline, and she dies.

An interesting aspect of the film is that the prosecuting attorney (Campbell Scott) is portrayed as a Christian. We don’t have a conflict between religion and science, but between believers with different perspectives. There are Christians who doubt the reality of satanic forces, but Father Moore says, "Demons exist whether you believe in them or not."

In the course of the film, we see Father Moore stick with Emily and her family through dark and frightening events. He says, "Once you've looked into the darkness, I think you carry it with you for the rest of your life."

The church urges Father Moore to plead guilty, because the church doesn't want to drag out these ugly matters in court. Moore pleads innocent, because he wants to get the truth out in the open. He also is willing to take the consequences of a guilty verdict.

For the compassion of Father Moore, his willingness to face danger, humiliation, and pain for the sake of the Gospel and for doing what he thinks is right, I give his ministry Three Steeples.