Review of The Rite (2011) by Meritcoba — 04 Jun 2019

Possibly the most unsettling part of this movie about exorcisms is at the end. We are told that the structural abuse of hapless victims, condoned by the Catholic Church, is not only a continued practice today, but is seen as something warranting praise. At least enough to make a movie about it that proclaims such abuse as a good thing. So we are told that one victim was starved of water and food for eight weeks before the devil was driven out. This might be a case of: operation successful; patient died. We aren't offered details. But it is even worse. It isn't just condoned: the Church has actually a list of official exorcists and a training program that teaches this stuff to promising priests.

One of those promising priest is our main lead, who is actually a doubting Thomas. Only in this case he is called Michael. Doubting Michael turns priest because, according to him, it is the only other alternative to becoming a mortician. And as Doubting Michael wanted to be away from his parental home, seminary school was the way to go. Believing in the almighty daddy isn't sufficient reason in fact. God doesn't hold any sway in this movie about driving out the devil through abuse.

In all irony, the portraying of the opportunistic Michael as agnostic, if not downright as an atheist, who wings it through seminary school backfires as it shows that the Catholic Church is bereft of a functional selection mechanism when picking priests and just about anyone can get A grades and get handpicked for the elite exorcists training course irrespective of the strength of their convictions. But to top it all: the years of seminary school does nothing to sway Doubting Michael one way or the other. He is as unconvinced about the Catholic truth at the end as he is at the start. Seminary school fails to turn doubters into believers. It attest to its utter failure as an institution. The proof is in the pudding.

I see something special in you, says some teacher of his, just when the main lead is about to hand in his collar as it was never about becoming a priest. And in the next scene he finds himself signed up to a satan kicker course over in Rome. What that special is(it isn't the fervor of his belief) goes undemonstrated. You might even say that there is more evidence for the contrary as the whole time our hero demonstrates his disbelief. It is like saying that a guy wearing coke-bottle glasses must make an excellent sniper, without showing his accuracy in previous scenes and him refusing to even touch a weapon out of principle. I guess we just believe it without evidence.. shall we? It is what religion is about.

Now I can't fault you for thinking that from reading the above that it must be a comedy, but it really isn't. It is nothing more that a straight telling without any mirth. The whole thing is about the exorcisms and the script rushes towards that part and just gives us a cursory nod towards establishing a background and personality for the lead. Since Hopkins has enough personality upon entry without any need of establishment, the difference between him and the lead is so great that you can drive a truck through it, sideways. Was there anyone else in the room? Or even the picture? Even the extras and the support cast have more personality than Doubting Michael. Of course, we all known that this lack isn't surprising as Michael isn't a real person. He is the stand in for all the doubters and atheists who will become believers overnight when confronted by an 88 mm gun.. eh the evils of Satan, just like Michael is. There are no atheists in foxholes! Funny enough, at best the movie demonstrates that a being named Ba'al exists. If you take that to be proof that god exists, this is because you have been doggy-trained to make that connection. Turning a believer because of an illogical conclusion or because you are afraid doesn't say anything about existence of the almighty. In rational reality it is more likely that any sane person, whether atheist or not, will prefer to have the victims transported to the nearest decent hospital, Hopkins incarcerated for his own good and that of societies, and the Catholic Church outlawed until they stop actively supporting this kind of abuse. Like that will be the day!

A remarkably disturbing movie that confronts you with the fact that while witch hunts and burning heretics has seen better days, institutional craziness and abuse is still rife in the Catholic Church. It once more shows how well-meaning people can do evil things if they just believe hard enough that their delusion is factual and they have movies telling them so.