Tuesday, March 27, 2018
A review of the 2013 anime anthology 'Short Peace' featuring Katsuhiro Otomo's 'Combustible'
Neo Tokyo is a 1987 sci fi anthology of 3 short animated films. The middle film called Running Man appeared on the 205th episode of MTV's Liquid Television.
Ghost in the Shell Innnocence anime review
Ghost in the Shell: Innocence is the 2004 sequel to the original Ghost in the Shell film which came out in 1995. Both films--the original and this sequel--are directed by Mamoru Oshii, known for intellectual and dialogue driven anime such as 'Patlabors' 1 and 2. Both Ghost in the Shell films are based on mangas by Japanese artist Masamune Shirow.
Ghost In The Shell: Innocence picks up after the disappearance of Section 9 Unit Commander, Major Motoko Kusanagi, who left her cybernetic body to become part of the World Wide Web. In her absence, her partner Batou--whose human body is almost completely cybernetic--takes command of Section 9. His new partner is Togusa and, unlike Batou, has few cybernetic upgrades. The film opens with Batou destroying a gynoid--or robot--that killed 3 people including 2 cops. This particular robot is modified for sex and also contains the souls--or ghosts--of real girls uploaded into them through a process called ghost-dubbing. Curiously, none of the victim’s relatives file lawsuits against the company. Also, fishy is the fact that the robots were programmed with an ethics code against killing humans--who reprogrammed the robots to violate their ethics code and why are mysteries. Robot manufacturer Locus Solus issues a recall; however, being that 2 of the victims are government officials, the incidents are treated as acts of terrorism. The terrorism theory goes out the window after a sexbot kills a Yakuza boss resulting in a revenge hit on Locus Solus’ shipping inspector. Batou follows a lead to the hideout of a Yakuza organization to get answers. A violent shootout produces no results. Later, Batou’s eyes are hacked, tricking him into believing he is under attack in a grocery store. He shoots off his arm and goes on a rampage. But luckily, tech specialist Ishikawa stops him from creating a massacre. His shot off arm is easily replaced. The only man capable of getting past his e-brain firewalls to hack his eyes is Kim, a soldier turned hacker who loves dolls and works at Locus Solus. The hacker hoped Batou’s rampage would create a scandal and get Section 9 pulled off the case. Section 9 Chief Daisuke Aramaki does take Batou and Togusa off the case--officially--but gives them the green light to go into Locus Solus on their own without any support. But they are not alone; they have an angel on their side. Before diving into the World Wide Web, Major Kusanagi promised Batou that she would never leave him. Ghost in the Shell: Innocence touches on philosophical, existential, and even religious themes such as God, reincarnation, sex, obsolescence, immortality, procreation, children, dolls, pets. But the central theme in the film, to me, is this question: what makes us human? In the 1st film, Motoko Kusanagi asks this question as most of her body--and maybe even her brain--has been upgraded by electronics, so much so that she even questions the existence of her soul. If a machine is composed of many parts working towards a particular function then how does this determine whether or not a thing is human? Can human be determined by appearance and if so then why aren’t machines or objects such as dolls that are humanoid considered human as well? If human isn’t physical but non-physical--a ghost or a soul--could not this essence exist in some other form such as the World Wide Web or--as we call it today--the internet? This dialectical argument concludes with Major Kusanagi escaping the restrictions of her body and uploading her ghost--or soul--into the web. Ghost in the Shell: Innocence is based on the same premise as the 1st film but with a twist. In this film, the souls of real children are uploaded into robots called gynoids, robots anatomically designed for sex. The process of uploading human consciousness in the film is called ghost-dubbing, after which the children die, a metaphor suggesting that at some point, cybernetic augmentation will replace all of our natural parts and force us to refine the definition of what it really means to be human both philosophically and morally as the way the gynoids are used and discarded in the film by those who are classified as human is called into question. This metaphor of obsolescence also applies to people and things in this society that become old and outdated, worn out and warehoused together in communities--like junkyards--after a lifetime of service. Or like the doll in this film that Togusa gives his daughter for her birthday that she’ll one day outgrow and throw away. Ghost in the Shell: Innocence is definitely an upgrade over the 1995 film in almost every respect starting with the animation which is more fluid and utilizes more CG elements that are seamlessly composited with hand-drawn animation that is incredibly lush, colorful, and intricately detailed. The standout scenes in the film are the parade in the Etorofu economic zone with the giant floats and the mansion at Locus Solus where Batou and Togusa find the hacker Kim. The melancholy score by Kenji Kawai matches the film’s bleak look--most of which is at night--and serves as a voice for the gynoids. Kawai said that with this film he was aiming for a jazzier mood, particularly for the music box in the doll house scene in the film in which he wanted it to sound like it was playing in a huge space. He did this by recording the track in a studio and rerecording the track in an underground quarry. Of all the films in the GITS franchise, Oshii's films are the gold standard. At the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence competed for the Palme d'Or prize, the only anime ever to compete for the prize. Oshii’s reverence for cinema’s great directors like Fellini, Bergman, Goddard and others shows in this film. In ranking this anime, I would put it beside Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey easily. If you have seen the live action film that came out in 2017 you really should see both of Oshii’s films which are light years better. The Wachowski’s wanted to bring Oshii on board to direct a short feature on their 2003 anime anthology ‘Animatrix’ but Oshii had to turn down the offer as he was deeply involved in the production of Innocence which he called a technical challenge that he wanted to exceed traditional anime limitations. There’s a lot of Ghost In The Shell in the Matrix, especially the first Ghost in the Shell film. Anyway, these are my thoughts on Ghost in the Shell: Innocence by Director Mamoru Oshii. It’s English dubbed with the same voice actors as the original film and it also has the original Japanese voice track with subtitles which I prefer. I had this on DVD when it first came out in 2004 and didn’t think it could look or sound any better until I recently got it on Blu Ray which looks and sounds incredible!
Neo Tokyo Japanese animation review + classic VHS Streamline trailers
Neo Tokyo is a 1987 sci fi anthology of 3 short animated films. The middle film called Running Man appeared on the 205th episode of MTV's Liquid Television.
Neo Tokyo is adapted from a 1986 collection of short stories of the same name by Taku Mayumura with each of the 50 minute trilogy’s 3 diverse films being scripted by directors Rin Taro Yoshiaki Kawajiri, and Katsuhiro Otomo. Neo Tokyo begins within a maze called The Labyrinth in which a clown leads a little girl to a circus tent where he then shows her the 2nd and 3rd films, Running Man and The Order To Stop Construction. The 2nd film, Running Man, is directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri and set at a futuristic racetrack called La Circus where drivers compete in anti gravity cars and where champion Zack Hugh--nicknamed The God of Death--literally drives himself to death to stay ahead of much younger drivers. The 3rd feature, The Order To Stop Construction, is directed by Katsuhiro Otomo and set in the Amazon Jungle where a project manager is sent to shut down a construction site but finds himself at odds with the site’s robot foreman that wants the project to go on as scheduled. Neo Tokyo was a direct-to-video release in 1987 and double-billed with a feature length anime called Silent Mobius. At that time, Neo Tokyo was licensed by a company called Streamline Pictures and if you knew about anime back then you know about the classic “State-of-the-art Japanese animation” trailer on all of their videos. When Streamline went out of business, Neo Tokyo and all of the company's anime titles were on moratorium for a while before being picked up by a company called ADV that also went out of business putting Neo Tokyo again on moratorium. There is no plot unifying the short films; Neo Tokyo was anime’s way of showcasing its top talents at that time, Rin Taro, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, and Katsuhiro Otomo who all went on to elevate anime out of obscurity and college dorms to the mainstream with classics like Akira, Metropolis (anime), Ninja Scroll, and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. Each director of this anthology has his own distinct style. You have Rin Taro's surrealistic look against Kawajiri's realistic look; and then there is Otomo's obsession with tech and mechanical details. Of the 3 shorts, Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s Running Man is my favorite. The detail in the cars and the characters-- especially the close-ups of the veins pulsating in Zack Hugh’s face and hands-- are incredible. Of the 3 directors, Kawajiri is the best character designer and all of Kawajiri’s films--from Ninja Scroll to Wicked City--bear this trademark. Neo Tokyo reminds us that as much as animation has gained with computer graphics and 3D, it can never replicate the edgy comic book feel that it once did when anime was hand-drawn and painted, cell by cell, by artists. No, the anime wasn’t smooth by today’s animation standards but it had more flair to make up for it. Anyway, anyone interested in seeing what real anime is--when it was really good--need to check out Neo Tokyo. It’s not for sale anymore but you can probably check it out on Youtube somewhere. I was lucky enough to get a copy after it was reissued.Monday, March 19, 2018
All That Jazz: a review and breakdown of Bob Fosse's best film
A review of All That Jazz, a 1979 musical directed by dance choreographer Bob Fosse
from a script co-written with Robert Authur. The film is loosely based on aspects of Fosse’s career as a director, choreographer, and dancer at a time when Fosse was simultaneously editing his film called Lenny and staging his 1975 musical Chicago. Like his fictional alter ego in the film, Joe Gideon, Fosse suffered a fatal heart attack on September 23, 1987; he was only 60 years old. In 1980, All That Jazz won 4 Academy Awards that included Best Director and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival that same year.All That Jazz begins in a dressing room where film director and dance choreographer Joe Gideon shares his life story to a beautiful woman named Angelique. In fact, his fondness for beautiful women is a big part of why his life ends the way that it does. It all begins with a Broadway audition-or cattle call-for a play called NY/LA. Eleven of the 12 dancers can actually dance. He didn’t pick Victoria because of her dancing skills, though, but he vows--in time--to make her a better dancer.
Gideon’s affairs ruins his marriage to Audrey who is starring in his new play. She still loves him. If not for his lies and constant affairs they could have made it work. But Joe loves sex and beautiful women, his only reason for getting into showbiz in the 1st place. So many lovers over the years that he can’t remember their names. But these empty fly-by-night encounters do provide inspiration for his plays.
With the deadlines for his film--The Standup--and the opening of his Broadway play--NY/LA--fast approaching and nowhere near completion, Joe’s daily ritual of coffee, 5 packs of cigarettes, Dexedrine, and Alka-Seltzer intensifies and puts him on an operating table and center stage in a five act play called Anger, Denial, Bargaining, and Acceptance. For the first time in his career, Gideon’s the star of the show and the crowd loves him!
In All That Jazz, Joe Gideon serves as a metaphor for a narcissistic and self-centered me, me, me generation that wants to receive love and acceptance without giving anything in return. Joe burns through a series of one-way relationships that begin and end with such frequency that they have no chance to establish any emotional connection. As a result, his attitude towards those he hurts is callus as when Katie--a lover he refers to as a friend--catches him in bed with 1 of his female dancers.
Joe is also the embodiment of all the contradictions that fame represents: closeness and disconnection; love and indifference; life and death. Joe wants to be different from everyone else, to stand out, to do something special. Joe built his life on trying to be counterculture to everything society condoned but at the same time based his self opinion on what that society thought of him and his work.
I also see Joe as a metaphor of how we are all, ultimately, alone in our feelings and how we interpret the world. Self love. This is why sex is so important throughout the film, it being the most subjective of all experiences. And this is also why sex creeps into Joe’s plays, particularly the Airotica number that he incorporates into his upcoming NY/LA play. You notice that for all of Joe’s narcissism and ego, how much his self confidence hinges on what others think of his plays and films? That his pleasure of his plays and films are derived from the pleasure others get from them? What brings us all back and out of ourselves, ultimately, is the need to be loved which Joe seeks through his plays and films. Even self love is out of a need to be loved.
Which brings me back to what Davis Newman told Joe--that Joe wanted to be special. When Joe was racking his brain editing The Standup--even going over budget on it--and finally got to a point where he thought he had it “right,” a bad review from 1 critic sends Joe over the edge. Now bring this in line with the fact that Joe left his wife to live with 2 women because nobody else was doing it. And that he also--according to O’Connor Flood played by Ben Vereen---was in the Selma Marches with Black people before “other cats saw it as a hip thing and jumped on the Blackwagon.” It seems that Joe loses interest in things where he does not feel special or unique. But the paradox of this need to feel special is that it reflects how the women in his life feel about him. They, too, want to feel special and don’t want to be grouped in with the crowd of women in his life. Joe is seeking the same thing that the women who love him seek.
Sex is another thematic element in All that Jazz that deserves a closer look and what it really means in Joe Gideon’s life. He grew up around strippers and didn’t seem to have a great childhood. Older women turned him on to his sexuality and he discovered that if it didn’t take away pain in his life, at least it numbed it a while. You’ll notice that Joe also drinks alcohol, smokes 5 packs of cigarettes a day, and takes a drug called Dexedrine that acts as a stimulant. There’s another metaphor here that relates to the theme of the racy dance number Joe puts on for the producers of his play, the play’s theme--he calls it-- of “casual or indifferent sexual encounters in contemporary society.” Lasting relationships that end cause a great deal of pain, casual relationships cause little or no pain at all. Limiting his relationships to sex decreases the chances of experiencing pain. But as I pointed out, Joe--as closed off as he is from others emotionally--needs love, too, and expresses this need through how others feel about his films and plays.
These are some of the ideas I got from watching All That Jazz and reading the script. I am going to do an analysis of the film where I’ll go into greater detail on its themes. This film reminds me of Fellini’s 8 1/2 in that they are both about film directors who use their personal lives for inspiration. Even though there are dance numbers and music in this film I wouldn’t classify it as a musical but more like a dark drama with music throughout. This is a very dark film with some pretty graphic surgical scenes. One of the most memorable scenes to me is near the end when Joe stumbles into a hospital room where an old lady’s dying and moaning and he kisses her deeply and tells her she’s the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. There have been a lot of great actors throughout the years but some of the best acting performances ever were by actors who weren’t household names and who didn’t do a lot of great films. I’m thinking of Peter O’Toole in Lawrence of Arabia, Brad Davis in The Midnight Express, and Richard Harris in The Sporting Life. Add Roy Scheider to this list. Amazing performance of a complicated character in Joe Gideon. All the acting in the film is great though I wish Ben Vereen as O’Connor Flood had more screen time but the time he does appear on screen is electrifying. If you haven’t seen this film and you think this is just a musical, you need to do yourself a favor and see it. I have it on DVD and it looks terrific.
Saturday, March 10, 2018
The Virgin Spring: a review of Bergman's controversial rape film containing Biblical themes
The Virgin Spring is a 1960 film set in medieval Sweden about a virgin girl who is brutally raped and her father’s revenge on the men who commit the crime. The film is directed by Ingmar Bergman and written by Ulla Isaksson who adopted the script from a Swedish ballad called Töres döttrar i Wänge ("Töre's daughters in Vänge"). The film stars Max Von Sydow, Birgitta Valberg, Gunnel Lindblom, and Birgitta Pettersson.
They have several encounters along the journey. They meet an old man in a shack who worships the pagan God Odin. The lecherous old man offers Ingeri her heart’s desire in exchange for sex and Ingeri--conflicted by her hatred and jealousy towards Karin--manages to resist his offer. Karin, on the other hand, sees the world through rose-colored glasses and perceives no threat from Ingeri, the forest, or any of the ominous-looking men they encounter. Somehow, Ingeri and Karin separate and 3 herdsmen--2 men and a boy--spot Karin alone. She offers them some of her food and they guide her and her white horse off the path.
Christian symbolism is expressed throughout The Virgin Spring. Karin switches back and forth between playing Christ and the fall of Mankind. In the beginning, Karin’s father, Tore, is accused by his wife of spoiling their daughter. The question is why would an over-protective father send his pure, virgin, inexperienced daughter into such a dangerous and unpredictable world? This fits with the Biblical story of God sending Christ into the world. Also notice that Karin’s horse is white coinciding with goodness. And also note that she offers the herdsmen some of her bread. In the Last Supper, Christ compares his body to bread and tells his disciples to eat it. In the same sense as bread, Karin is consumed by the herdsmen who rape and kill her. Also, the trail itself represents God’s way and when Karin--now switching from the role of Christ to the role of Mankind--strays from “the path,” the fall of mankind follows.
Ingeri switches back and forth between playing Adam, Cain, and Mankind’s redemption. In the role of Adam, Ingeri partakes of the forbidden fruit of lust by becoming a promiscuous woman. This is why her face, hands, and clothes look dirty; even her horse looks dirty compared with Karin’s white horse. This physical contrast between her and Karin is crucial in understanding why the film is called The Virgin Spring. Remember, virginity is associated in the mind with cleanliness and you cannot wash off dirt with dirty water. Ingeri, being the embodiment of Man’s downfall, is dirty with sin, sin that can only be redeemed with the blood and clean water of Karin who is innocent and Christ-like. This explains why Ingeri-- at no other time in the film --makes no attempt to clean the dirt from her hands and face. Remember, she has the chance to wash the dirt off herself in the brook running under the old man’s shack in the woods; she doesn’t because the water under the old man’s shack is polluted with lust and the envy she bears against Karin. Only at the spring that breaks out under Karin’s dead body does Ingeri washes the dirt off of her face and--in doing so--is redeemed and born again by the blood of an innocent. This analogy between Karin and Christ is magnified by Karin clutching a lamb (representing Christ) prior to being raped and murdered by the herdsmen. Revenge, justice, paganism, guilt, the dangers of ignorance, and existentialism round out the film’s other complex themes.
The Virgin Spring plays out like a poem and I rank it with The Seventh Seal that Bergman directed 3 years earlier. I must warn you though, the rape scene is graphic and shocking despite the fact that this film has been out for almost 60 years. It won the Academy Award For Best Language Film, a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and a Special Mention Award at Cannes. The Virgin Spring is among the best examples of Bergman’s powers as a visual storyteller, again with the assistance of longtime collaborators, cinematographer Sven Nykvist and editor Oscar Rosander. As usual, Janus and Criterion did an excellent job on this film. Bergman’s early black and white films were short compared to the color films he made later such as Fanny and Alexander (5 hours and 12 minutes) and Scenes From A Marriage (4 hours and 40 mins); The Virgin Spring, by comparison, is only 89 minutes. Time flies watching any of Bergman’s films which is why he is my favorite director.
Cries and Whispers reviewed and analyzed in under 5 minutes
Cries and Whispers is a 1972 film by director Ingmar Bergman about how we are all existentially alone in our feelings, the need we all have for an emotional outlet, and the need we all have for human comfort. The film takes place in a mansion in the late 19th century and focuses on 3 sisters, 1 of whom is dying of cancer. The film stars Liv Ullmann, Harriet Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Erland Josephson, and Kari Sylwan.
In the film, sisters Karin and Maria (played by Ingrid Thulin and Liv Ullmann) are contrasted against Agnes and Anna (played by Harriet Andersson and Kari Sylwan). As children, Karin and Maria are favored by their mother and never experience any real suffering or loneliness that would have enabled them to develop empathy. Their coldness towards each other, their sister, Anna, and their husbands are consistent throughout the film. Anna and Agnes, on the other hand, have suffered in ways that make them sensitive to others’ suffering. This is why Agnes relates better than her sisters to their mother even though her mother neglects her. Agnes' suffering in isolation and loneliness helps her understand her mother’s isolation and loneliness. Anna suffers quietly as a maidservant among employers who look down on her. This and the death of her ill daughter makes her able to comfort and relate to Agnes’ pain.Although Agnes appears to be the most isolated character in the film she isn’t because the maid, Anna, is always there when she cries out. It is Agnes’ mother and Agnes’s sisters Maria and Karin who are most isolated and incapable of expressing their feelings. Agnes’ cries are answered by Anna. By contrast, Karin has no way to express her feelings; Maria is too selfish and Frederik, her husband, is too insensitive. Therefore, Karin expresses her pain through self-mutilation. Like Karin, Joakim (Henning Moritzen), also has no one to share the pain caused by his cheating wife and therefore attempts suicide. Likewise, the sisters’ mother has no one to share her loneliness with except Agnes whom she neglected. But it is because of this isolation and neglect that Agnes is able to relate to her mother. And like Agnes, the servant Anna, who lost her daughter to an illness, knows also what it is like to feel lonely and isolated which is why she can relate to Agnes.
This is one of my favorite Bergman films because it has everything you like about all of his films in only 90 minutes: symbolism; great acting; great cinematography; period costumes. This film and all his films prove that you can make an intelligent film that’s equally entertaining. Like my other favorite director Stanley Kubrick, Bergman’s films leaves you thinking about things you weren’t thinking about going in. Cries and Whispers received 5 Academy Award nominations and wound up winning Best Cinematography for Sven Nykvist. Although the film made only $1,500,000.00 it was considered at the time a commercial success being that it was made for only $400,000.00. I have it on DVD and Criterion did an excellent job as usual. If you like Bergman’s other films, you should add this to the collection.
Memento in forward and reverse: a film review and breakdown in 6 mins
Memento is a 2000 psychological thriller written and directed by Christopher Nolan based on a 1999 short story called Memento Mori by his brother Jonathan Nolan that was published in the March 2001 edition of Esquire Magazine. The film stars Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne-Moss, and Joe Pantoliano.
In Memento, actor Guy Pearce plays an insurance investigator named Leonard Shelby who is very good at spotting fake claims. He only trusts the facts because memories are unreliable and can change, from person to person, like the color of a room. A 58 year old man named Sammy Jankis comes into his office one day to file a claim after a car accident leaves him unable to make new memories. Doctors test Sammy but can’t find anything wrong; and as a result, Leonard denies Sammy’s claim, gets a big bonus and a promotion while Sammy, on the other hand, loses everything. In a twist of fate, Leonard suffers a head injury that leaves him unable to make new memories. Unlike Sammy, though, Leonard has a system and organizes his life around notes and routine. He also has friends like Natalie, a waitress whose boyfriend is double-crossed and killed in a drug deal. Leonard also has his friend Teddy, an undercover cop who doesn’t trust Natalie and wants him to leave town. It’s confusing, Natalie telling him 1 thing and Teddy telling him something else. But Leonard manages to keep it all together by writing and tattooing notes all over his body except for 1 empty space over his heart, for John G., the man who stole his memories and murdered his wife.
Memento’s plot is structured off of Leonard Shelby’s inability to remember anything for more than 5 minutes. The film plays out in reverse in which scenes are divided and mixed up so that they begin with an act (or fact) and end by playing out everything that happens before the fact (everything that he forgets) in order to show how facts change depending on purpose and intent.
Emotions can shape facts. Mrs. Jankis sees Sammy’s condition as real because she is his wife and loves him; Leonard has no emotional attachment to Sammy and sees him as a potential faker. Leonard’s bedside manner is callous when he tells her that he sees no reason for Sammy not to be able to make memories. Even though Mrs. Jankis and Leonard are looking at the same person in Sammy Jankis, their interpretation of this fact changes within the context of their emotions. This proves Teddy’s existential argument that a fact--in and of itself--is as unreliable as memory unless you know how and why the fact exists, its intent, and its purpose. Emotions also help us to remember things. We may forget details but impressions like fear, anger, pain, and pleasure stay with us. Leonard’s desire to find his wife’s killer changes the meaning--or context--of why Natalie is helping him. He believes that she is helping him out of pity but she is really helping him to knock off Teddy who double-crosses her boyfriend Jimmy in the drug deal. Compare this with Sammy Jankis and how he keeps picking up the same electrified objects over and over in spite of the pain. The unreliability of facts is also illustrated when Leonard kills the wrong man and Teddy tells him that the man he killed was the right man to him and to enjoy it while he still remembers.
Leonard’s polaroids are a way of him preserving unfelt experiences, like someone attending a sporting event or a concert and recording it on a phone instead of experiencing it in the moment. For example, when Natalie asks Leonard why he seeks a revenge that he won’t remember, Leonard tells her that he’ll just take a picture or get a tattoo.
Memento is still my favorite Christopher Nolan film. Everything about it is perfect from the cast featuring Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Joe Pantoliano. The script which I read before writing this review is also amazing as well as the short story it’s based on by Jonathan Nolan. What a tag-team! If there was ever a case for gender bias in Hollywood, this film is the best example. Despite the excellent editing Dody Dorn did on this film, she only received a nomination. By the way, she also edited James Cameron’s T2: Judgement Day. The film has also been recognized by the scientific community for its realistic depiction of short term memory loss. If you haven’t seen Memento, you should to know why Nolan’s Batman Trilogy set the standard it did.
The Exorcist pits God against science: a review and breakdown in under 7 mins
There's trouble in Washington! Father Damien Karras has lost his faith in God; a film director’s body--with its head twisted backwards--is found outside of a girl’s bedroom window; at an archeological site in Northern Iraq, Priest Lankester Merrin digs up an ancient relic called Pazuzu.
The Exorcist is a 1973 supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin based on William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel. The novel and film were inspired by a 1949 exorcism involving a 12 year old boy named Roland Doe that took place at Alexian Brothers Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. The film stars Ellen Burstyn, Max Von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Jason Miller, and Linda Blair.
In the film, the 12-year old daughter of film actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) struggles with depression following her parents’ separation. Her depression deepens when her father--who is living in Rome--forgets to call and wish her happy birthday. Regan invents an imaginary friend named Captain Howdy that she communicates with by Ouija board. One night while Regan’s asleep, a draft enters the open window of her room. After this, strange noises begin coming from the attic. Regan begins to act out of character by mutilating her face and using profanity. Her mother takes her to doctors and psychiatrists who find nothing wrong. A doctor suggests a priest to perform an exorcism on Regan. Chris is defiant and even insulted by the suggestion but concedes to it after the body of a film director is found outside the girl’s bedroom window. A local parish refers Chris to Father Damien Karras who is losing his faith and dealing with his aging mother who is suffering from dementia. Having studied psychiatry at the best colleges, Karras sees Regan’s behavioral problems as a clinical issue and not a spiritual one. He agrees to see Regan but only as a psychiatrist, not as a priest.
The Exorcist is more than a simple horror movie about a 12 year old girl possessed by the Devil. The Exorcist is also a metaphor of how science replaced God to become a world religion. In the film, doctors have become priests and hospitals have become temples. Spiritual issues like Regan’s depression over her parents’ separation are treated like physical problems.
For example, notice how hostile Chris becomes upon discovering a cross that someone put under Regan’s pillow. When Regan tells Chris that she doesn’t feel good, notice Chris’s response when she tells Regan to just take some pills and everything will be all right like the doctor said. Father Karras resorts to alcoholism to address spiritual anguish and guilt over his mother’s death.
There are Biblical parallels in The Exorcist as well. There’s a scene where Chris is entertaining guests, one of whom happens to be an astronaut. Regan crashes the party, pisses on herself, and says to this astronaut “You’re all gonna die up there.” I always thought that this was just a random scene until I put it in the overall context of the Devil using science to cut man off from God. I then saw the metaphor of the astronaut as that of a high-tech version of Satan rebelling against God in chapter 14 of the book of Isaiah:
“I’ll go up to the cloud tops; I'll be like the Most High!"
Regan’s self-inflicted wounds are also understood in a Biblical context. As she has made herself ugly, we have perverted nature, ourselves and the world through greed, vanity, wars, and lust. Karras asks Merrin why the Devil would disfigure Regan and Merrin tells him that it is because the Devil wants to separate us from God by making us so ugly that God could not possibly forgive us. In other words, Merrin is telling Karras that the Devil wants us to feel too ashamed to face God because of our sins. This not only applies to Regan but also to Karras who feels ashamed for not taking better care of his dead mother. Now, compare this to the book of Genesis after God tells Adam not to eat the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. After eating the fruit of this forbidden tree and disobeying God, what does Adam do? He hides himself from God to hide his shame. Ultimately, I saw the film as God using the girl to reconcile Himself with man through Karras who abandons his faith because of his education and his shame over his mother’s death.
Before directing this film, William Friedkin had done, in my opinion, 1 of the greatest crime thrillers in 1971s The French Connection. The Exorcist is the 1st horror film to be nominated for a Best Picture award at the Oscars, nominated for 10 Oscars in all and winning 2 for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture. When I think of the best horror films, my top 3 are James Whale’s The Bride of Frankenstein, Brian DePalma’s Carrie and this film. The Exorcist was filmed on location in Mosul, Iraq and Georgetown, Washington. Real priests were brought in as technical advisers on the exorcism scenes. Even after 45 years this film still holds up pretty well. There are 2 versions of the film but I recommend the Director’s cut.
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