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Friday, April 26, 2024
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HOLLYWOOD THE RITE
EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: * 1/2
As a religion, despite its psalms about love, Christianity is
based on fear. Fear not of the bad, but of evil and ‘the` evil or ‘devil`.
And it is this devil that "The Rite" sells its soul to, managing
nothing more than a little grab of the audience`s attention and not much
empathy.
Michael (Colin O`Donoghue) is a logical atheist who joins to train as a priest
only to get away from his father. When he desires to quit, citing lack of faith,
he is sent to Rome for a two month long course in exorcism. Here his skepticism
is in full swing but an encounter with Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins) in search
of proof, will change his faith forever.
The best thing about the film is Hopkins. He gives a "Silence of The
Lambs" performance, which he indeed has repeated in a number of films
before. Yet, it is not enough to raise the bar of a film with dangerous and
distorted politics.
The main problem with the film is that it claims it is based on a true story,
thus being unmindful of humanity and history that is replete with examples of
million burnt at the stake, murdered or persecuted in the name of ‘Christ The
Saviour`. The love of Christ would never have led to these religious killings.
What did lead men to do it was the devil, an imaginary minion of charlatans who
exert control over humanity using its fear, guised in the love of the lord.
"The Rite" ends up inside the long roster of those instruments used to
make people fearful of a nonexistent devil. In doing so, it seems like a
corporate film for the Vatican church, out to get people back to church, again
not out of love of Jesus, but fear of the devil.
Unlike its character Michael, played extremely unconvincingly by Colin
O`Donoghue, the film does not show any lack of faith against the superstitions
rife in Christianity. Instead, it carefully throws a compassionate eye at the
cruel, unscientific act of exorcism, thus justifying it. If not its endless
stream of cliches and bad acting, then just for this reason alone, it deserves
to be burnt at the cinematic stake.
“The Rite” is a supernatural thriller that uncovers the Devil’s reach to even one of the holiest places on Earth.
Inspired by true events, the film follows seminary student Michael Kovak (Colin O’Donoghue), who is sent to study exorcism at the Vatican in spite of his own doubts about the controversial practice and even his own faith. Wearing his deep skepticism like armor, Michael challenges his superiors to look to psychiatry, rather than demons, in treating the possessed.
Only when he’s sent to apprentice with the unorthodox Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins)—a legendary priest who has performed thousands of exorcisms—does Michael’s armor begin to fall. As he is drawn into a troubling case that seems to transcend even Father Lucas’s skill, he begins to glimpse a phenomenon science can’t explain or control…and an evil so violent and terrifying that it forces him to question everything he believes.
