Tuesday September 27, 2005
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Movie Commentary – The Exorcism of Emily Rose
By Luke Jalsevac
Does evil exist? If so, how do these dark forces manifest themselves and impact our lives? Humanity has struggled with this question since time immemorial. The Exorcism of Emily Rose tackles this enduring issue, and surprisingly manages to do so with some originality, nuance and force. In fact this film was much more powerful than I thought it would be, but for reasons markedly different than I had expected.
I had no intention of seeing this movie. The secular reviews were rather mixed, which confirmed my natural inclination to avoid subjecting myself to an unnerving movie whose only effect would be to snatch precious needed hours of sleep. While I have never seen the entire movie The Exorcist, I had seen parts of it on a few occasions and did not find myself particularly edified. I thought this movie would fit into the same category. I could not have been more wrong.
In his generally positive review of The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Decent Films.com critic Steven D. Greydanus commends the film for “offering another cinematic point of reference for the phenomena of possession and exorcism, and for its sympathetic depiction both of the believer Fr. Moore and the skeptic Erin Bruner.” Yet in the end he remains somewhat ambivalent as to the value of the story, ultimately concluding that he finds the story “tragic rather than inspiring.” While I cannot comment on the effect the movie had on him personally, I must respectfully offer another opinion. For precisely the reasons that he was ambivalent, I left the theatre very much inspired.
Please note that I do not intend here to offer a synopsis of the movie, but rather a commentary. Nevertheless, a warning for those who haven’t yet seen this film: there are certain plot spoilers in this commentary. For an excellent synopsis of the plot see the review by Mr. Greydanus at https://www.decentfilms.com.
Unlike Mr. Greydanus I consider that the movie’s greatest strength is that it leaves the viewer with a deeper sense of mystery. The great, often enigmatic Catholic writer Flannery O’Connor once wrote in commenting on her approach to her art that “We Catholics are very much given to the Instant Answer. Fiction doesn’t have any. It leaves us, like Job, with a renewed sense of mystery.” The Exorcism of Emily Rose likewise leaves many questions seemingly unanswered, yet the very fact that it skilfully raises these questions allows for the possibility of answers. Not, however in the comfortable, straight-forward manner we are so naturally inclined towards.
Many of the great religious artists throughout the ages have seen the value of the indirect method of teaching and evangelization. Evelyn Waugh, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Flannery O’Connor, to name just a few, often employed this method. The great Christian existentialist Soren Kierkegaard based his philosophical approach on his belief that illusion could never be dispelled in a direct manner. In fact he argued persuasively that the direct method achieves nothing but a strengthening of the illusion.
C.S. Lewis famously wrote that the devil’s greatest feat was convincing the world that he doesn’t exist. This movie sets out to dispel this greatest of illusions, and succeeds in doing so precisely because it doesn’t allow itself to become preachy.
While The Exorcism of Emily Rose is undoubtedly direct in its presentation of the incredible ferocity of possession, perceived or real, overall it nevertheless remains indirect. Many of the exorcism flashback scenes are followed by eloquent, well presented, persuasive arguments by the prosecuting lawyer undermining all that we had just witnessed. That Mr. Graydanus says he himself might have found the priest guilty proves just this point. This movie is not a fairy tale. Everyone does not live happily every after, but limps away wounded. Wounded but profoundly impacted.
G.K Chesterton, in his introduction to the book of Job writes that “”The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man.” And that is precisely the beauty of this film. If the exorcism had succeeded, or at least the priest had been found not guilty, we would have had fewer riddles, pleasantly satisfying at first to be sure, but in the end without the deeper growth obtained through unsettling thought. Furthermore, the movie would have only appealed to a smaller crowd of convinced Christians, the proverbial preaching to the converted.
A case in point. A good Christian friend of mine was so enthralled with this movie that he took it upon himself to convince his non-religiously inclined sister and her husband to see this movie. With the appropriate use of biblical wolf-like cunning he persuaded them to see the movie based on the impression that it would be a scare-your-pants-off horror thriller. When the credits finally rolled down the screen, both his in-laws sat in stunned reflective silence. Finally his brother-in-law turned to my friend and said “I’m going to have to do some serious thinking about what this means for my life.”
And he was not alone. The theatre, my friend tells me, was packed with the typical young, entertainment thirsty crowd noisily expecting yet another mindless horror flick that Hollywood has been only too willing to pump out over the past number of years. The almost total silence, the hushed comments, and the confused looks on their faces as they left the theatre told him that they had not been prepared for what they saw.
Flannery O’Conner once again sheds light on this reality. “… my subject in fiction is the action of grace in territory held largely by the devil. I have also found that what I write is read by an audience which puts little stock either in grace or the devil.” That many moviegoers fit into this category can hardly be doubted. They have been lulled to sleep and desperately need to be roused awake.
Emily’s friend (boyfriend?) who stood by her side throughout the entire ordeal, states at one point that he would not trade this terrible experience for anything because he had been awakened from a deathly slumber. So had my friend’s in-laws – and possibly many other unsuspecting moviegoers. They had been awakened from their comfortable, yet deadly illusion that evil is an archaic myth, that it does not exist. If this movie had concluded with a preachy, neatly tied up ending their illusion would have remained, strengthened even. Their deeply rooted defences against the spiritual would have been raised, feeling that they were trying to be converted, and the profound spiritual dialogue throughout the film would have been lost. But the very fact that the open-ended conclusion left them questioning creates a situation in which dialogue and growth is possible. They were offered truth and subtly invited to choose it, rather than having it forced upon them.
But what of the convinced Christian? What can they expect to gain from seeing this movie? Here again the director’s skill shines through. By choosing not to shed any light on the origin of Emily’s possession, director Scott Derrickson manages to shake up the settled opinions and beliefs even of believers. Mr. Graydanus hits the nail on the head: “What makes Emily’s case so disturbing is that she is a pious girl from a devout Catholic family, presumptively in the state of grace.” At first this offends our religious sensibilities and we rebel against the plausibility of such an occurrence.
Wondering about this I asked a priest friend of mine who was involved in deliverance ministry for well over a decade if Emily’s possession was at all plausible. Very much so, he replied. Possession is not only caused by our own sin or by playing with Ouija boards, tarot cards or the like. In certain cases possession can be brought about by some severe trauma experienced in the past, by grave family sins passed on from a previous generation, by certain types of obsession, or even contact with someone who is possessed. Each of these possibilities is plausible in Emily’s case.
I went into the movie, thoroughly convinced of the existence of evil and demons. I came out of the move thoroughly convinced of the same – with one key difference. The conviction penetrated just a little deeper into my heart and soul, to that level which informs my actions, which challenges me to make those small changes in my life towards a fuller living of the Gospel that I have been putting off. And that for me is a truly successful film.
We should be thankful that Hollywood is making movies like this that don’t shy away from religious questions or water them down. While this movie is not for everyone – the exorcism scenes are fairly intense and may be disturbing for some – I encourage anyone who has not seen this film to watch it before it is out of theatres. Let us continue to send Hollywood a message that religiously themed movies that feed our souls have a wide audience, that we are fed up with the mindless, soulless, irrelevant trash Hollywood is so fond of producing.
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