THE POPE'S EXORCIST
***
Director: Julius Avery
Screenplay: Michael Petroni and Evan Spiliotopoulos, screen story by Michael Petroni and R. Dean McCreary & Chester Hastings, based on the books An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories by Fr. Gabriele Amorth.
Principal cast:
Russell Crowe
Daniel Zovatto
Alex Essoe
Franco Nero
Peter DeSouza-Feighoney
Laurel Marsden
Country: USA/UK/Spain
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 103 mins.
Australian release date: 6 April 2023.
“When we jeer at the Devil and tell ourselves that he does not exist, that is when he is happiest.” – Fr. Gabriele Amorth
The Pope’s Exorcist is inspired by the work of Father Gabriele Amorth, the Chief Exorcist of the Vatican until his death in 2016, but the filmmakers seem to be unable to make up their minds whether they were going to treat the subject with the seriousness of William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, which set the standard for this kind of material in 1973, or a fantasy film along the lines of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Initially, the material leans toward the former but, in the second half, it delves into more absurd and fanciful realms. The writers even come up with a satanic rationale for the Inquisition! Australian readers will be interested to learn that there’s a strong Aussie contingent involved in the creation of this mishmash: Julius Avery, the director, Michael Petroni, one of the key writers, and Jed Kurzel, the composer, all hail from ‘the land down under’, and, of course, Russell Crowe lives there and has been adopted as an honorary Aussie despite being born in New Zealand.
The movie is set Italy and Spain in June and July 1987 and it covers two suspected cases of demonic possession. However, as Fr. Amorth (Crowe) explains, not every exorcism requires expelling a malevolent spirit – often they just require “a little conversation, a little understanding and, sometimes, a little theatre” to achieve a successful result. But a case involving a young American boy (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney) staying in a Spanish castle that his mother (Alex Essoe) has inherited and is restoring, seems to be the real deal. The kid has a fit and falls into a coma before waking and telling his mum and sister (Laurel Marsden), in a suitably fiendish voice (Ralph Ineson) that they are all going to die. Who you gonna call? With the help of an assistant, Father Esquibel (Costa Rican actor Daniel Zovatto), the genial, scooter-riding Amorth must endeavour to get to the truth of the matter.
Crowe seems to have enjoyed playing the part of Fr. Amorth, after initially having some misgivings about the script, but after learning more about the character of the man his opinion changed. He says, “Without question, he is a man of deep faith, but also very definitely, his own man. He is determined to be open and upfront; he is not afraid of the failings of humanity. He accepts all of the foibles and quirks of people. That simple level of gut-based honesty helps him do his job.” And he adds that, “It’s quite well documented that he had this sense of humour.” Thus, the actor portrays him as having a glint in his eye and treats him as a man, not a saint. Crowe has to deliver some of his lines in Latin and Italian but, mainly, he speaks in Italian-accented English, which he does convincingly. Young DeSouza-Feighoney also does a good job of playing someone in the clutches of some kind of external force, conjuring up images of Linda Blair in The Exorcist, minus, thank God, the projectile vomiting. In the end, though, The Pope’s Exorcist feels derivative, as if we’ve seen it all before. If you really want a scare, you’d be better off tracking down Billy Friedkin’s 50-year-old frightener.
Screenplay: Michael Petroni and Evan Spiliotopoulos, screen story by Michael Petroni and R. Dean McCreary & Chester Hastings, based on the books An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories by Fr. Gabriele Amorth.
Principal cast:
Russell Crowe
Daniel Zovatto
Alex Essoe
Franco Nero
Peter DeSouza-Feighoney
Laurel Marsden
Country: USA/UK/Spain
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 103 mins.
Australian release date: 6 April 2023.
“When we jeer at the Devil and tell ourselves that he does not exist, that is when he is happiest.” – Fr. Gabriele Amorth
The Pope’s Exorcist is inspired by the work of Father Gabriele Amorth, the Chief Exorcist of the Vatican until his death in 2016, but the filmmakers seem to be unable to make up their minds whether they were going to treat the subject with the seriousness of William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, which set the standard for this kind of material in 1973, or a fantasy film along the lines of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Initially, the material leans toward the former but, in the second half, it delves into more absurd and fanciful realms. The writers even come up with a satanic rationale for the Inquisition! Australian readers will be interested to learn that there’s a strong Aussie contingent involved in the creation of this mishmash: Julius Avery, the director, Michael Petroni, one of the key writers, and Jed Kurzel, the composer, all hail from ‘the land down under’, and, of course, Russell Crowe lives there and has been adopted as an honorary Aussie despite being born in New Zealand.
The movie is set Italy and Spain in June and July 1987 and it covers two suspected cases of demonic possession. However, as Fr. Amorth (Crowe) explains, not every exorcism requires expelling a malevolent spirit – often they just require “a little conversation, a little understanding and, sometimes, a little theatre” to achieve a successful result. But a case involving a young American boy (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney) staying in a Spanish castle that his mother (Alex Essoe) has inherited and is restoring, seems to be the real deal. The kid has a fit and falls into a coma before waking and telling his mum and sister (Laurel Marsden), in a suitably fiendish voice (Ralph Ineson) that they are all going to die. Who you gonna call? With the help of an assistant, Father Esquibel (Costa Rican actor Daniel Zovatto), the genial, scooter-riding Amorth must endeavour to get to the truth of the matter.
Crowe seems to have enjoyed playing the part of Fr. Amorth, after initially having some misgivings about the script, but after learning more about the character of the man his opinion changed. He says, “Without question, he is a man of deep faith, but also very definitely, his own man. He is determined to be open and upfront; he is not afraid of the failings of humanity. He accepts all of the foibles and quirks of people. That simple level of gut-based honesty helps him do his job.” And he adds that, “It’s quite well documented that he had this sense of humour.” Thus, the actor portrays him as having a glint in his eye and treats him as a man, not a saint. Crowe has to deliver some of his lines in Latin and Italian but, mainly, he speaks in Italian-accented English, which he does convincingly. Young DeSouza-Feighoney also does a good job of playing someone in the clutches of some kind of external force, conjuring up images of Linda Blair in The Exorcist, minus, thank God, the projectile vomiting. In the end, though, The Pope’s Exorcist feels derivative, as if we’ve seen it all before. If you really want a scare, you’d be better off tracking down Billy Friedkin’s 50-year-old frightener.