The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)

I broke two personal moviefanatic creeds I made a long time ago: 1) not to watch any horror movies again after I spent four sleepless nights over Sixth Sense and The Exorcist 2) and not to review horror films in this blog. My friends convinced me to watch this movie because it was not at all "scary." I have a terribly active imagination, especially at night, after watching a horror flick. I "see" things I don't see before. I guess late night horror radio program before I went to bed when I was six must have really paid off. OK, Cut the dramatics!

Scott Derrickson's The Exorcism of Emily Rose, is a controversial film. A Catholic website posted a prayer by one parishioner saying that the movie "is anti-Catholic and should not be watched by church-going people." Stories about the failed Exorcism circulated around the internet and some made it into the papers claiming facts about the incident. Whatever is the truth about Emily Rose, sure boosted the film's theatrical sales.

The plot is simple enough to follow: a devout Catholic college girl was attacked by what she called "evil spirit" when she was alone in her dormitory one night. Since then the devil or devils as we later learned has not left her in peace. Emily (Jennifer Carpenter) was described by people who knew her as sweet, happy and intelligent girl. She attended advance cathechism and was into ancient languages to help her understand the Bible better. She was the last person, everyone expected to have demonic possessions.

When the doctor's prescription proved inutile to remedy Emily's condition, her parish priest, Fr.Richard Moore (Tom Wilkinson) prescibed spiritual healing. Emily and her family consented to the ritual of exorcism but Emily died in the process. A charge of homicide out of negligence was pressed against Fr. Richard and a brilliant God-fearing Methodist lawyer (Campbell Scott) was called in to prosecute him. On the other side, an equally gifted but agnostic female lawyer was hired by the archdiocese to settle the case in the Catholic church's favor.

Atty. Erin Bruner (Laura Linney) was only interested in winning the case so she could climb a step higher up the corporate ladder. She had none to lose except, when extraordinary circumstances happen to her and her star witness, lose her unbelief. The trial becomes a test of faith versus the cold facts of science. Bruner saw a courtroom battle that could be won by razor-sharp logic and sweet-tongue persuasion, Fr. Richard saw a war between the forces of evil with the forces of good.

The scariest part of the movie is not in the film itself. It is in leaving the theater, when one is in one's own room and alone in one's own thoughts. And whether one believes in God or not, makes an awful lot of difference.