The Rite

You may be waging war with yourself on whether or not you want to spend the time and the $10 to go sit through yet another exorcist movie. Isn’t it using a familiar theme, you may ask. Yes. Has the priest lost his faith? Yes. Technically this can be multiplied by two. And there’s possession and weird, twisting movements by the possessed? Yes. D: All of the above. However, there are a few variables, which have to be factored into the equation. One, is the writing. Is the script good? I’ll go with option B on that and say its fair. Was the director’s approach executed well?  I’d have to say yes. Was Sir Anthony Hopkins in this film. Big smiley face.

 The Rite, starring Colin O’Donoghue and Anthony Hopkins, as an up and coming priest and an old world exorcist, respectively, hits the nail on the head. Please, pardon the pun.

 O’Donoghue plays Michael Kovak, a young man, who, desperate to please his unsupportive father, enters into a four year program to become a priest, although he admittedly lacks the necessary strong faith or even belief in God. As a young boy, Kovak bears witness to his father (Rutger Haur) preparing the corpse of Michael’s dead mother in their family owned and lived in mortician’s office. I’m sure that probably wouldn’t be traumatic for a kid, but it serves as an opening for doubt in young Kovak.

As he grows older, he basically has the option forced upon him to either continue the family business or enter priesthood. The obvious choice for a religious skeptic is the become a priest, but his doubts convince him to bow out of the program just before being anointed. In an effort to keep him in the program, the Father Superior offers Kovak an opportunity to enlist in a special program in Rome to become an exorcist.

Tempted by the smell of pure bullshit, Kovak accepts and, on his first day in class, questions the professor on the distinction between possession and clinical psychological disturbances within the victims. The professor promptly sends Kovak to meet with Father Lucas Trevant (Anthony Hopkins). The Father offers testimony to Kovak that he ,too, is just a man, and, at times, has his own lapses in faith. Sometimes for months at a time until he feels “God’s thumbnail scratching at my insides”. The action quickly proceeds when a young pregnant woman comes for her treatment to try to rid herself of a supposed demon. Father Lucas issues a laundry list of rules for Kovak to obey while witnessing the exorcism, explaining that, in some cases, it takes multiple attempts by the priest to first identify the demon by name, then, ultimately release it from its host.

 The first attempt is somewhat eerie, using the regular effects of the aforementioned twisting and seizure like movements by the girl, accompanied by a few lines that attack Kovak personally, like “lickety split” : a phrase Kovak’s ex-girlfriend used.  Our young exorcist in training remains unconvinced, but tags along with Father Lucas for house calls the next day, which lands him at the home of a young boy, who maintains that a ghostly mule with red eyes haunts his dreams and tells him unknowable truths and suggests to the boy to kill himself, while leaving large bite marks on the boy’s body. Father Lucas accuses the mother of abusing the boy and then supposedly pulls a toad from within the boy’s pillow rejoicing that he’s pulled out the devil. Before leaving  however, the boy whispers to his mother, while staring at Kovak, to which the mother responds “That’s enough. No one is going to die.”

 The aunt of Rosaria, the pregnant girl, puts in a call to the Father as he and Kovak return, begging for their assistance. When they arrive, they find Rosaria in full demon mode. Complete with cursing an evil laughs and stares. This time however, the episode is accompanied by off screen whispers and echoes, which add a chilling and effective touch to the scene. Kovak initiates conversation with the girl, suggesting that she was suffering from a psychological breakdown brought on by the fact that she was raped and impregnated by her now missing father. Father Lucas works on her to the point of getting her to spit out rusty nails, paralleling those used to stake Jesus to the cross.

 Kovak, still maintaining that this is a mentally sick person rather than a demon, speaks with Angeline, a reporter, who has been trying to arrange an interview with Father Lucas. She tells Kovak of her personal reasons for the interest in exorcism stems from her brother, who, as a child would tell her of the awful things that his voices from within would tell him to do, and how that it ultimately landed him in an insane asylum, where the family basically turned their backs to him.

 One more emergency call finds Rosaria in the hospital, where the doctors to Kovak and Father Lucas that they’ve given her as much sedatives as they legally can due to her pregnancy. More personal attacks are verbally thrown at Kovak in English from the young Italian girl and sinister, inhuman voices emit from within her. The girl, once left by the priests, ultimately dies, along with her unborn baby, and the demon creeps its way to another host. One whose faith has been rattled by the loss of the girl. One that, once inhabited would serve as an exorcist’s worst nightmare.

 Kovak receives word that his father has had a massive stroke back at home and has entered a coma, and is set to leave Rome, but is delayed by a problem with the airline. He receives a phone call from his father. “Where are you? Where am I?” his father asks. “I’m scared. They’re hurting me,” he continues. The phone momentarily fills with static and the doctor tells Michael that his father has been dead for several hours. Then there’s about a five minute mind fuck, where Kovak is tortured by the same echoed voices from Rosaria’s exorcism, which lead him outside where he comes face to face with the red eyed mule.

 With Angelina, Michael goes back to boy’s house where he discovers that the whisper to him mother was, in fact, the boy saying that Kovak’s father was going to die. When asked who told him that, the boy says “you know, you’ve seen it too”, obviously referencing the mule. The two race to Father Lucas’ home to find him sitting in the rain following his stumbling trip back to his estate after being overcome by the demon and backhanding a small girl who asked him to bless her doll.

 They go inside and its apparent immediately that the Father is battling for control, taunting Michael one second, and insisting on being tied up the next. They do tie him up, and being unsuccessful in finding an experienced priest, return to attempt the exorcism.

 From that point on, it was the Anthony Hopkins’ School for Gifted Actors. Rattling off insults and mockeries of both the priest and the church and even God himself, Hopkins transforms not only in character buy physically as well. And I was really proud to see that they didn’t over do the special effects. I mean, lets face it, Hopkins is a scary bastard as is. I’d believe he’d eat my liver without all the added makeup. We have a great underscore and a lot of good camera work, again supported by the off screen echoed voices and a chilling performance to create one of the more intense scenes in this genre of film that I can remember. With me, it’s the subtleties that make or break a movie. Over the top will run it every time, despite what Sylvester Stallone said back when he was an arm-wrestling truck driver.

 The constant barrage continues until Michael has his “ah HA” moment, which I like to refer to as the Hulk Hogan Effect, where we see our hero battered and broken and seemingly defeated until he gets that last bit of power. That last spark, when the Hulkster’s finger starts waving back and forth and he rises to his feet. That comes when Kovak finally admits to the demon, and more importantly to himself, that he does believe in the devil, but in doing so, so believes in God. Its that belief that finally gets to the demon to identify himself by name and is purged from Father Lucas.

 If the tags are be believed, the men upon who the story was based are still practicing exorcisms to this day.

 So, if you’re still trying to decide, let me just say, while its not the best movie I’ve ever seen, The Rite does have plenty of good qualities. There are some appreciated shots of Rome, some decent camera work in the filler scenes and some pretty damn good ideas on how to make you sit on the edge of your seat. To me, it was worth it, but I always want to know what you think.

Comments

[Dave]

Just wanted to leave a note. You have a very good synopsis of the movie, and couldn't be more correct about the camera shots, the acting and (best of all) -lack of- special effects. I wouldn't say the movie was scary, but was well worth the money paid to see it. I am suprised you didn't mention the inside joke of "the Exorsist" that Anthony Hopkins lets slip in the film: "What did you expect? Twisting heads and pea soup?" Anyway, the movie is a good suspense/thriller and your synopsis of it is just.
-DCT