The Pope's Exorcist
The Pope's Exorcist
Starring Russell Crowe, Daniel Zovatto, Alex Essoe, Laurel Marsden
Directed by Julius Avery
Father Gabriele Amorth (Russell Crowe) was the Pope's (Franco Nero) personal exorcist, traveling around the world conducting numerous exorcists with dry wit, humor, and a healthy dose of skepticism. He knew that not every "demonic possessed" person was indeed possessed, and leaned heavily on the idea of actual mental illness rather than the devil's work.
In the mid 1980s, American family Julia (Alex Essoe), her daughter Amy (Laurel Marsden), and young son Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney) travel to Spain to attend to her recently-deceased husband's affairs: his family had inherited a Spanish abbey and they were working on renovating it to sell. Yet there's dark secrets buried underneath the abbey that drew the Pope's attention, especially after Henry gets possessed. Father Gabriele is tasked with finding out what's happening, and along with newer Father Esquibel (Daniel Zovatto), Amorth arrives in Spain and interacts with the family. He quickly learns that Henry's possession is the real deal, and he has to employ all his knowledge, skill, and strength to combat the strong demon that's inside Henry before he not only kills the boy and family, but takes down the entire Catholic Church in the process.
The Good:
As someone who's studied religion and Chrisianity as a whole, the way they go about "The Pope's Exorcist" is something that's refreshing in the exorcism subgenre. Not all exorcisms are due to demonic possession (in fact, very few are), and there's very few exorcists that actually take place in the world. Most are misdiagnosed as mental illness or cries for attention, and the Chruch has done a great job lately on shedding light on how few true exorcisms there really are.
The film is based on the real Father Gabriele Amorth and his slew of books (which, according to the man himself, are "good"), and Amorth was a real Father of the people. He wasn't the insufferable, boring, boorish priests that we all knew in Sunday School, but rather a flippant, humorous, whiskey drinking outlaw who was instated by the Pope himself as his personal exorcist. Amorth had a personality as large as his claims (claiming to have performed over 160,000 exorcisms, most of which he later disputed as not being actually demon possessed victims, but victims of mental illness), and he was primed for the big screen. I only hope that this is the start of the "Amorthiverse" where he travels the world combating the devil in all his forms (the end of the film kinda pointed to that, in a wink and a nod feel to "The Avengers" for God).
To cast such an outstanding real-life saint, Russell Crowe was a nautral fit. Crowe has been around for decades, and he has very little to prove anymore, so he's free to really explore the roles and deep dive into them with reckless abandon. Be it an eccentric Zeus in "Thor: Love & Thunder," a pudgy road rage psychopath in "Unhinged," or attempting (poorly) to sing in "Les Miserables," Crowe is the kind of actor who doesn't give a fig anymore about what anyone has to say about his work, allowing himself to fully immerse himself in his roles. Here, he relishes playing Amorth, utilizing jokes, humor, and a sense of superiority that exudes from his very essence, giving audiences a character that we can love and appreciate, a priestly man that lowers himself to human standards and provides a unique, compelling performance.
The story itself is unnerving and frightening, with many scares that don't just rely on cheap jump scares but rather ones that bore into your very soul. Henry's possession is just the beginning, as the demon has bigger plans for Amorth and the Catholic Church as a whole, and this plan is absolutely bonkers in is evil nature, spiraling into a dark underbelly of cover-ups (which the Catholic Church would never do), shady dealings, and the true essence of evil.
When it comes to the scares, there's some amazing set designs, sound effects, and practical and visual effects that combine to make an above-average exorcist film. The setting itself is unnerving as the abbey is in disrepair and looks like it'll collapse at any moment, with high ceilings and low lights that give a continual darkness even in the daylight. The film swells with epic music and orchestral scores, and the use of practical and special effects really deliver the scares.
The Bad:
Much like "The Exorcist," it seems like "The Pope's Exorcist" relies on the same old tropes. Possessed child. Profanity and blashpemy by the word. Body contortions, cuts, bruises, writing in blood on the stomach, and levatations. I wonder if this is how all demonic possessed people act.
With a title like "The Pope's Exorcist," I half expected the film to be about the Pope being demon possessed and someone having to exercise the demon out of him. Then I thought what an interesting premise that would actually be.
The film starts off rather typical but then spirals into outlandish plot lines concerning the Catholic Church history and how everything bad they've done in history was done by demonic suggestion, with a more outlanish plan to take down the Catholic Church with a demonic army. Although it was done in a way that wasn't completely off-putting, it was extreme and happened so quick that I didn't think I heard what I thought I heard until I heard it again later.
The Verdict:
While not attaning the heights of "The Exorcist," "The Pope's Exorcist" has its own charm due to Russell Crowe's fun performance about a man of the cloth who was also a man of the people, a unique individual who used humor and wit to disarm demons and help families in their darkest hours.
The Score: A
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