An American seminary student travels to Italy to take an exorcism course. This crock like plot summary probably may sounds tempting, for me at least. Actually I’m kind of interested in exorcism while it’s being a dangerous spiritual task, an act of Magick work. In Roman Catholic dogma exorcism is a ritual but not a sacrament, unlike baptism or confession. But just like in many other cases which involve the Church, there are more rumors than facts about exorcism and for sure the Church still keeps secret documents about this rituals and practices.
So, I hoped that this new movie maybe open a window to these secrets, I wasn’t looking for another movies like “The Exorcist” and “The Exorcism of Emily Rose”. But the truth is, “The Rite” – in my opinion – it’s not even about exorcism.
This film is about faith and lack of faith. The exorcism it’s just a tricky add-on to rise the interest for the film. Well, there’s still a few funny and a few interesting things, but the subject of exorcism remains scratched only on the surface. It’s kind of disappointing, but not unexpected.
“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist” – this famous quotes is re-served as “The highest proof of the existence of the devil is that we can not proof that he exist.” It’s kind of twisted demonstration, pretty axiomatic, but it bring us to the faith. And director Mikael HÃ¥fström try to convince us that Christ exist by showing us the devil. Read more The Rite (2011)
Life and Living
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A Serbian Film (2010)
Creepy. I just saw it last night and just like Scott Weinberg said: “And I will never watch it again. Ever.” I quote him again: “”I think the film is tragic, sickening, disturbing, twisted, absurd, infuriated, and actually quite intelligent. There are those who will be unable (or unwilling) to decipher even the most basic of ‘messages’ buried within A Serbian Film, but I believe it’s one of the most legitimately fascinating films I’ve ever seen. I admire and detest it at the same time.” Well, I do not admire it and do not detest it, but it turns my stomach upside down. And really, I’m not some cry boy. But this is not scary, this is brutal. Forget about “Saw”, “Hostel” and even some of disturbing Asian films.
The state prosecution of Serbia opened an investigation to find out if the film violates the law. It is being investigated for elements of crime against sexual morals and crime related to the protection of minors. It was banned by a San Sebastián (Spain) court for “threatening sexual freedom” and thus could not be shown in the XXI Semana de Cine Fantástico y de Terror (21st Horror and Fantasy Film Festival). I’m one of the few – probably – who think that pornography may and should be a form of art, I can go on with some of the “snuff movies” as well while I know it’s a movie and not the real thing, but when it comes down to child rape and necrophiliac themes it’s far over the edge. And I think this is the bottom line: we must keep in our mind – this is nothing but “just” a movie. Read more A Serbian Film (2010)
