Forget “God’s Not Dead.” Forget “The Passion of Christ.” Forget even “Veggie Tales.” The best film about faith and religion is “The Exorcist.” Despite the film being banned in parts of the U.K. and criticized by various Catholic family groups, the film and novel “The Exorcist” was written by a Catholic, William Peter Blatty.
Blatty was raised a devout Catholic in New York City. He attended Georgetown University in Washington D.C. and cut his teeth as a comedy writer. Blatty became interested in the horror genre after his mother’s death. This event cemented his belief in the Roman Catholic faith and tradition. Blatty was also concerned with exploring cosmic evil in light of recent real-world events such as World War II and the Holocaust. In writing the novel, Blatty searched out the darkest parts of mankind and the universe.
Even with this religious origin, the film was seen as cursed, dangerous and even unholy. The televangelist Billy Graham is famously quoted as declaring, “The Devil is in every frame of this film.” Stories and urban legends about the filming of the movie didn’t help to detract from Graham’s statement.
Numerous tragedies befell the movie’s production. Actresses Linda Blair and Ellen Burstyn, who played the demon-possessed child and her mother respectively, were injured by safety harnesses. In Blair’s case, when she was writhing and screaming on screen, it wasn’t good acting but actual screams of pain.
The interior set used in the film also burned down in the middle of the night. The only part of the set that didn’t burn down was the room of the possessed girl. Pigeons were eventually blamed.
The cast and crew called for the set to be “exorcised” itself. Instead, a priest gave the set a blessing.
Despite these unfortunate circumstances, the film is still a religious work. It immediately immerses the viewer by following a pair of priests, each with their own personal baggage. I can’t really think of another mainstream movie which follows priests so intimately and allows the audience to see the world through their eyes.
The priests are presented, ultimately, as the only people who can provide a solution to the conflict. The mother brought her child everywhere for testing. Blood tests, MRI’s and psychiatrists all failed in diagnosing her behavior. The only remaining option was religion, which ultimately proves to be the answer. It’s a striking message that has been often ignored in discussions about the film—when modern science and medicine fail, religion provides the solution.
Father Karras is the most sympathetic of the priest protagonists. He is shown to be suffering from the recent passing of his mother and his impoverished upbringing. He is the most relatable, though, through his faith or, rather, the lack thereof. Karras, from the beginning, is shown to be struggling with his faith and doubts God and the Catholic institution he’s a part of. Pure faith in characters is often annoying or unrelatable, but viewers can be empathetic toward the doubt and struggling Karras experiences.
The film tricks viewers into believing what they’re seeing. It takes all matters of religion, such as God, priest’s rites and Satan, seriously. No matter what religious beliefs a viewer may have, they are charged to take the film sincerely. It is the ultimate suspension of disbelief. It is also why some have viewed it as a work of propaganda due to faith and God prevailing over all other measures.
The director John Landis expressed this best when he said, “I’m an atheist and I couldn’t care about god or the devil or Jesus, but when I saw ‘The Exorcist’ I was terrified. The whole movie scared the shit out of me. Then, I left the theatre and went home and slept like a baby.”
“The Exorcist” is a religiously positive film because it shows how goodness and God prevail over evil. Writing in Rolling Stone, reviewer Jon Landau felt the film was, “[N]othing more than a religious porn film, the gaudiest piece of shlock this side of Cecil B. DeMille (minus that gentleman’s wit and ability to tell a story).” Landau is quite harsh in his assessment, but I do agree with his basic reading. Taking a more objective view on the film, I could see how it could be seen as religious propaganda.
I think “The Exorcist” is the best religious film because of its focus on the human elements such as shame and doubt, while also being open to show darkness. So often, religious themed films are fluffy and light without any shades of gray. “The Exorcist” dwells and thrives in those shades of gray which I believe has ultimately helped it become a classic.
People so often come out of watching “The Exorcist” and focus on the dark imagery. The film is one which ultimately works to affirm God’s existence through the devil’s existence. Karras sacrifices himself by taking in the demon and leaping from a window. Despite this seemingly bleak ending, the film achieves a sense of overt faith: Karras finds God and defeats the devil. Blatty set out to write a story about cosmic darkness and evil. Through it, he wished to show that “God exists and the universe itself will have a happy ending.”
Take that “Veggie Tales.”
True Dabill can be reached at dabi7280@stthomas.edu.