Spirit Daily
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The Exorcism of Emily Rose
by Father Brian W. Harrison, O.S.
From the mailbag
Some of you may have seen over the last year
or so that I have sounded the alarm in several Catholic magazines about a couple
of viciously anti-Catholic movies disguised as "history": "King Arthur" (2004)
and "Kingdom of Heaven" (2005).
I have just been to see another new movie about the Church, with the full
expectation of being provoked into circulating yet another "thumbs-down" warning
about it.
Well ... Halleluiah! Would you believe that that particular expectation of mine
has just been smashed -- astonishingly, wonderfully! - into smithereens? Can
anything morally or spiritually good come out of Hollywood - especially in this
day and age, more than half a century after the "good old" days when some movie
moguls were (putatively at least) "on our side"?
To my utter amazement, I now have to admit that the answer is 'Yes"! Divine
grace - actual, if perhaps not yet necessarily sanctifying - may be having its
effect even in Tinseltown!
Ever since the big box-office success of the original version of "The Exorcist"
more than thirty years ago, exorcism-flicks have become a sort of sub-division
of the horror movie genre. Most of them have been pretty trashy, depending
mainly on sensational special effects and frequently embodying malicious and
embarrassingly ignorant caricatures of Catholic
beliefs, rites and practices. Not this time. "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" gets
it right. Scarily, yes, but at the same time beautifully, powerfully -
inspiringly. This one is the real thing, folks. (I speak as a priest who has had
direct experience with real-life exorcisms: in Rome, with Father Gabriel Amorth,
the Pope's leading exorcist and author of several books on the subject.)
Like "The Exorcist", "Emily Rose" has its basis in a true case-history, but is
far superior to the former movie in just about every respect. It's about a
19-year-old Canadian girl from a conservative/traditional Catholic family, who
becomes possessed and eventually dies in that state after an unsuccessful
exorcism. The family's parish priest who attempted the exorcism, Fr. Richard
Moore, is then charged with criminal negligence leading to her death. This is
because, having being totally entrusted with Emily's welfare by her devout
family after psychiatric treatment and medication had proven fruitless, the
priest decided to suspend all natural treatments in order to rely on the
spiritual power of Christ and His
sacred priesthood.
That forensic context alone makes
fascinating watching for those who - like most of you reading this -- are very
conscious of the exclusion of Christ's social kingship from modern societies
dominated by the "wall of separation" between Church and State. The superbly
acted and directed court scenes in "Emily Rose" present a kind of microcosm of
this radical internal conflict at the heart of post-Enlightenment Western
culture. They effectively portray the legal dilemma that now arises when an
officially agnostic political/judicial system is forced to come to grips with
evidence that radically calls in question the secularist orthodoxy which
dogmatizes that all possible events must -- at least in the public, civil forum
- be explained in terms of natural, scientific laws. This dilemma is highlighted
in the gripping,
brilliantly-written, dialogue confrontations between Fr. Moore's defense counsel
(Laura Linney) and the prosecutor bent on persuading the jury that the priest's
"archaic superstitions" were responsible for the girl's death. And the drama is
ingeniously heightened by the paradox that while this publicly secularist
prosecutor boasts that he is privately a
"man of faith" (have we heard something a little like that before?), Fr. Moore's
attorney has to openly admit that she's personally an agnostic. (The screenplay
throughout this movie is excellent.)
That old "with-'religious'-friends-like-these-who-needs-enemies?" scenario will
certainly resonate with the so-often-frustrated experience of so many of us
traditionally-inclined Catholics in recent decades. A further touch of the same
post-conciliar realism comes to light quickly when we learn that the accused
Father Moore, an honest-to-goodness, orthodox Catholic priest, finds the rug
being pulled out from under him by -- you guessed it! - the modernist,
politicking
archdiocesan chancery officials who don't really believe in all that stuff about
the devil and possession, and are just plain embarrassed by the whole business!
(Yes, folks, this decidedly non-liberal script is actually coming from an
'establishment' Hollywood movie! Mel Gibson had nothing to do with it.)
As a matter of fact, Father Moore (played by Tom Wilkinson) comes across as more
than just an honest-to-goodness, orthodox priest (wearing his clerical suit and
collar whenever he's out of his prison uniform). He's an exemplary, prayerful
priest. A holy priest. A old-style priest who knows how to talk back sternly in
Latin when the demon croaks at
him mockingly in the Church's language. He is quietly dignified in his
humiliation in prison and in court. This priest manifests true Catholic pastoral
charity and zeal for souls, and a Christ-like willingness to sacrifice his own
temporal reputation and freedom for the sake of telling the truth about Emily.
Moreover, Wilkinson's portrayal of this character is totally credible, with his
acting rising to a superb level in the last court-room scene where he gives his
final testimony about Emily. For my money, Wilkinson's Father Moore - here in
the dark Third Millennium, no less! - is a thousand times better than Bing
Crosby's superficial "cool", crooning priest characters from the supposed golden
days of the 'forties and 'fifties. In short, this was a film that left me
feeling proud to be wearing my Roman collar as I exited the theater!
Even though the Catholic-influenced Legion of Decency which vetted movies back
then has long since disappeared, "Emily Rose" has no foul or blasphemous
language (even though it's about demonic possession), no sex, and no nudity. So
the most deeply traditional Catholic parents can see, and allow their kids to
see, this film, provided only that the latter are old enough not to be
traumatized by the scary scenes. Indeed, such families will empathize with the
Rose
family, whose devout, orthodox Catholic convictions are treated with sympathy
and respect throughout the film.
Maybe you are thinking by now that in spite of all these merits, "Emily Rose"
still sounds overall like a pretty depressing movie: after all, we're talking
about a FAILED exorcism which ends in the hideous death of the possessed girl.
If that's what you're thinking, then never fear! You should know that there is a
simply wonderful, profoundly moving, surpriseending to the film which puts that whole scenario in a totally unexpected,
supernatural light. I assure you you'll leave the theater after seeing "Emily
Rose" with your faith strengthened, your spirit elevated -- and probably with
tears welling in your eyes. All the more so because we are assured at the end
that this story is basically history, not fiction. (The real-life events on
which the film is based actually took place in Germany in the mid-1970s.)
One final comment. I said above that Mel Gibson had nothing to do with this
movie. On second thought, maybe he did -- unwittingly. Could it be that the
box-office success of "The Passion" last year is finally getting the message
through to some Hollywood studios that there is a huge potential market out
there for films which respect, rather than ridicule,traditional religion? If so, we traditional religionists should confirm this
message for them by going to see "The Exorcism of Emily Rose." I urge you not to
miss it -- and take your older children along too. As far as I'm concerned, it
is a masterpiece: one of the finest and most moving films I've ever seen in my
life, and indeed, a worthy companion to "The Passion of the Christ."
[editor's note: pray for discernment before exposing children to any portrayal of evil]
09/24/05
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