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.
No comments:
Post a Comment