The Rite

The Rite O
(PG-13) for disturbing thematic material, violence, frightening images, and language including sexual references.

Oh, January, that cinematic landfill where Hollywood dumps movies they know are awful before they even roll the credits on the first preview. The newest entry in that long proud tradition is The Rite, an exorcism tale that hit the big screen this weekend.

The problem right off the bat with this well intentioned mess is that it gets its background all wrong (please don't let the "inspired by a true story" thing fool you).  Movies about police departments, the military or the legal system will go to lengths to achieve realism.  Directors and actors doing war pictures have been known to go through a truncated basic training, getting to know how a soldier operates in the field.  They'll at the very least talk to military people, past or present, to try and get it right.  Spielberg even had Holocaust survivors on the set on Schindler's List so their experience wouldn't be misrepresented.  No movie gets it all correct, and even last year's best picture winner, The Hurt Locker, took flack for alleged inaccuracies in its presentation of an army bomb disposal team.  But there is such a level of carelessness and ignorance in dealing with the Church and the priesthood in movies that it staggers my mind.  What's sad is that The Rite is actually sympathetic toward the priesthood and the idea of a divine call, and that it gets so much wrong is disheartening.

The story follows Micheal Kovak (Colin O'Donoghue) who enters the seminary because of family pressure (plausible if this was 1951, or maybe if we were in some parts of the developing world today, but not in the contemporary United States).  He goes, planning on ditching right before making his "final vows" that make him a priest (professing vows do not make you a priest, ask any nun you happen to run into.  In fact diocesan priests don't take vows at all).   Four years later a priest / mentor is concerned when Michael passes his psychology and sociology finals but fails theology (that would be like saying a law student failed "law" but passed British literature; it makes no sense.  By the time a seminarian gets to the seminary he's specializing in theology and studying its various branches, not taking "core classes" like an undergraduate.  In the same way a law student studies torts and copyright law, among other things, and not law in some generic form).   Michael tells the priest of his doubts and he sends the young man off to Rome to take a class in exorcism, hoping it will shake him out of his unbelief (I'm not even going to go there, it would take too long).  Once there he's sent to see Fr. Lucas (Anthony Hopkins) a reclusive Jesuit and experienced exorcist.  Michael is sceptical, which is all well and good, but his unbelief endures longer than is reasonable.  Fr. Lucas correctly states that the prayers of liberation can take weeks or months to wear the demon down and defeat him (I've even heard years), but Michael, at the end of the film, is able to accomplish in an evening what Fr. Lucas couldn't get done after months of effort.  I won't go through every problem with the film, it would take too long, and yes, it's Hollywood, and they're making a dramatic film, not a documentary.  But getting some details right would be refreshing.

This particular sub genre of horror film is different from pretty much all the others because it's dealing with something that's real. It's rare, to be sure, but real all the same.  We had an exorcist speak to us one afternoon during a spiritual theology class (my lone exposure to the topic in 13 years of formation, outside of a couple of books I read on my own) and he said he had performed three exorcisms in his 15 years on the job.  Most people have some psychological problem that demands therapeutic or pharmaceutical treatment.  But the power of the Evil One is real and not to be taken lightly.  The movie weaves between reverence and humor in a way I don't think was always intentional.  It takes a low key approach to the scenes of possession when compared to the granddaddy of them all, The Exorcist, which did go over the top.  But it's also less informed on it's topic, never bothering to go into the causes for demonic possession which, when taken into account, make the final plot twist implausible.

The movie's only saving grace is its positive portrayal of the Church, the priesthood and faith in general, which I didn't take as a put on.  The priests were sympathetic, but human as well.  While it tried to present compassionately the struggles a priest goes through, it still can't compare with the Exorcist in that regard, especially William Peter Blatty's novel.  The Rite presents a Catholic Church that simply doesn't exist in the real world.  As much as I'm glad Hollywood was friendly this time, I wish they were also right.