The Rite (2011)
The Rite combines top notch production and cinematography with a familiar theme that has been all but played out in modern cinema. The theme is that of the Roman Catholic church and exorcism. Before writing this one off for daring to go there yet again, I will say that The Rite steps above the rest with two shining positives, these being the writing and of course Sir Anthony Hopkins.
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Michael Kovak (Colin O’Donoghue) is a priest in training who isn’t quite convinced that God and The Devil do exist. Being the last son in a long line of priests and Coroners he feels it is his duty to choose one of those professions. Growing up assisting his father in the preparation of dead bodies (including his own mother) he chooses priesthood instead to get away from his father’s work. His plans of defecting are foiled however when one of the senior tutors sees a promise in him and sends him off to Rome to train for exorcism – a major honor that is only afforded to a few.
In Rome Michael presses his teachers for answers – trying in vain to put logic behind the need for exorcism and is sent to meet Father Lucas Trevant (Anthony Hopkins), a master exorcist. Lucas turns out to be a more worldly man than Michael expected and his unorthodox methods makes him even more skeptical, but soon things start to occur that are little more than coincidental to explain. Michael continues to doubt as the father performs exorcism after exorcism before him until the demons use his own disbelief as a gateway to show their reality to him.
The real story behind The Rite is about Michael’s psychological journey into a life of priesthood. It really becomes a tale about him battling his own inner demons in order to accept himself so that he can exorcise others. What I didn’t much care for is the sudden change in the film’s direction from subtle events into full on supernatural horror. I felt that the writing and most of all the direction would have been enough to convey the reality of the possession without the need for them to get into the body-wrangling, the over-the-top demon voices and the special effects. Audience members have been desensitized to these tricks by now after so many movies about exorcism and I was really hoping that The Rite would steer away from it.
One of the problems with showing the over-the-top special effects is that it confirms our disbelief when in reality the movie would work 100% better if we were made to assume. The Rite had areas where a victim may recant things that he/she should not know (which is good) to show that they are indeed possessed by someone else. Then they did the cheesy things such as showing the person becoming physically malformed, twisted and demonic while spewing out disgusting rhetoric and displaying supernatural strength (bad). This inevitably hurt the movie which starts out so promising as everything was kept to a more palatable taste. Another gripe was the inclusion of Alice Braga who played Angeline. Nothing against Braga but the Angeline character served no purpose to help or hurt the plot other than being a positive female face in a movie about twisted female hosted demons. There could have been so much more done with the character to show Michael’s struggle especially within the realm of sexuality and the priest’s vow to celibacy… it’s Alice Braga afterall, she is as sexy and feminine as they come! Despite my gripes however the reason I saw The Rite was for Anthony Hopkins and he did not disappoint, the exorcisms he performed were intense, his speech filled of quotables as usual and it was a better movie whenever he was on screen. Ciaran Hinds as Father Xavier (the man who sends Michael to Lucas) was a memorable character and Rutger Hauer as Michael’s father Istvan as a nice surprise.
All-in-all The Rite finds it’s place within the exorcism craze but neither surprises or disappoints compared to the rest. I hope for the sake of the genre that one day they give us a “realistic” exorcism movie and shy away from the twisting special effects, loud noises and “demon speak”. If you are a fan of Hopkins or a person with an interest in demonology and a movie that gets all the signs, descriptions and effects correct, you may want to check out The Rite.
Greg Dragon – who has written 380 posts on Spicy Movie Dogs.
Cinephile and opinion writer, Greg Dragon has been a fan of movies since the 80's when Kung Fu theater was all the rage and Roger Moore was James Bond. As an opinion writer that has reviewed Box Office releases on a number of prominent websites, Greg is the founder and lead critic of Spicy Movie Dogs.
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