With "The Rite of Mikael Hafstrom returns to the big screen ... the figure of the exorcist
"Is that all?" demand the seminarian Michael Kovak disappointed after the first exorcism, which helps. "What did you think of seeing: rotating heads and pea soup?" Lucas meets his old father, from whom it was sent to learn, but also to overcome his skepticism and, more importantly, to regain faith. A joke that attempt to steal the film The rite dall'ingombrante but unavoidable comparison with The Exorcist, William Friedkin's masterpiece (1973) which, however, pays homage to thin citations. In the film directed by Mikael Hafstrom there are disturbing scenes of rest, with those possessed by the devil spewing huge nails, assume unnatural poses and deform roaring phrases in various languages \u200b\u200band voices. Of course, forty years later, no longer the same terrifying effect on the public. But is the price you pay to the horror genre in the vein of demonic is a subgroup popular, although rarely with interesting results.
Hollywood occasionally feels the need to engage in direct contrast to the stories in which good and evil, and apocalyptic in the titanic struggle between divine and demonic. Often, however, cinematically speaking, the interpretation of the facts is very clear, the focus on the horror, as always in excess pay at the box office, leaving in the second floor of the objectivity of reality - the possession - its already chilling. Then, by the tare weight of what is patently unrealistic, and in any case here is less exaggerated than elsewhere, as well as some inevitable stereotypes and equally forgivable inconsistencies, the ritual fails to maintain sufficient credibility. If nothing else in the psychology of the characters, with their many doubts and their certainties. And some concessions to modernity. Like when in the midst of an exorcism, Father Lucas is ringing the phone. And even the priest answered.
Inspired by the experiences of an American priest, Father Gary Thomas - whose story was told in the book by journalist Matt Baglio ritual. The true story of an exorcist today (Sperling & Kupfer) - the film follows the story of the seminarian Michael Kovak (Colin O'Donoghue), sent by his superiors in Rome to study exorcism despite his doubts about this ritual, and even on his own faith. The son of a mortician (Rutger Hauer), the young man sees no alternative to enterprising the same job his father but to enter the seminary despite not feel the calling. With the seemingly impenetrable armor of skepticism, even Michael does not hesitate to Rome to challenge the teacher ask him to turn to psychiatry, rather than the practice of exorcism to treat those who believe they own.
Even when he is sent as an apprentice to his father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins) - a senior exorcist of the methods not quite orthodox and a sharp character, on the edge of ambiguity - and assist the seminarian in the early rites remains skeptical. Unless change his mind when he meets the possessed begin to tell stories of which he alone is aware. Guided by the expert priest, Michael (very evocative name) began his personal descent into hell that will lead him to confront an evil force so powerful as to overwhelm the priest (Hopkins returns to embody evil after The Silence of the Lambs). Any certainty collapses and the only possibility that remains is to start to have faith. On the other hand father Lucas said once: " choose not to believe in the devil will not protect you from him .
And perhaps the phrase lies precisely in this sense of history: to propose the presence of the evil which opposes the power of faith. The devil exists, believe it or not, and subtly work to gain the upper hand.
A reality that the Church does not escape. Jesus cast out demons, teaching the apostles to do the same in his name, in the certainty that evil will not have the last word (not praevalebunt). If anything, this fact seems to escape an increasingly secular society for which there is no shame and speak of the devil and demons mean superstition and obscurantism, a throwback to medieval times in fact. And so the question takes the value of Father Lucas: "The interesting thing is that skeptics are always in search of evidence. The question is: if you find them, what would change on earth?".
Even with all the cliches of the genre, Hafstrom's film is certainly far from the intensity and emotional narrative of the model so far unsurpassed Friedkin, but it is honest and respectful. The Church is not represented by figures thundering anathemas or dispensing dogmatic certainties, invariably presented as unpleasant and annoying, then unbearable. The same figure of a priest is lined with positive traits. Indeed, just in the U.S. The ceremony was seen almost as a kind of spot for the priesthood. Nothing new, though: At the time, The Exorcist was greeted with some interest from Catholic circles.
At the end of the doubter and skeptic Michael seminarian knowingly chooses to be a priest. The evil did not prevail. Her story demonstrates the power of faith. The last scene sees him enter the confessional. Forgive sins is its first new line, the line of fire of the daily, silent fight the evil that inhabits the world.
Gaetano Vallini - from L'Osservatore Romano
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