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Stigmata
The main criticism levelled against this horror mystery thriller is that it rips off The
Exorcist. Well, although I wouldn't go so far as to say Stigmata improves upon its esteemed predecessor, it certainly is a more complex exploration of that earlier film's themes than was possible back in 1973. For one thing, the 'possession' here - of Patricia Arquette's flighty hairdresser - is not linked to a demon of any sort, and the fact that she doesn't commit the cardinal sin of flinging a priest out of her bedroom window (though she does beat one up a bit!) makes her plight all the more disturbing. Gabriel Byrne (who played the Devil - in Schwarzenegger's comparatively tame End Of Days) is cast as a Vatican scientist who investigates modern miracles. (One of the few humorous asides of this ambitious film is that supposedly true Catholic believers hardly want to 'believe' at all). When Byrne discovers that Arquette's urban atheist has inexplicable injuries closely mimicking crucifixion wounds, he's naturally sceptical. Until, that is, she begins speaking in tongues, writing the Aramaic text of Christ's unsung 'lost' gospel, and he stands witness to a bloody epileptic-type attack. At this point I remembered The Entity (1983) - in which Barbara Hershey's assaulted, repeatedly, by an invisible rapist - and I was half expecting Stigmata would follow a similar route of improbable scientific inquiry. But, agreeably, it doesn't fall into the pseudo-science trap that nearly always reduces intelligent theologically inclined drama to pretentious trendy waffle. Instead, it aims high, targeting corruption in the Church, and delivering a message about organised religion that's clearly heartfelt, and strangely moving - even to a completely faithless heathen like me. Director Rupert Wainwright overdoes the fast-cutting style of a flashy rock video here, but this mostly works in the film's favour, adding almost subliminal visuals to central horrific images, and hinting at the off-screen presence of a tortured soul rather better, or at least in a different (more sophisticated?) manner, than all the grisly makeup effects and green vomit of The Exorcist ever could. DOWSE
Guide to the Movies
is
compiled by Tony
Lee editor of Pigasus Press Movies
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