No Sympathy for the Devil: 'The Exorcist' Director William Friedkin Looks Back

[yallerdawg]

With a new documentary, 'The Devil and Father Amorth,' the filmmaker returns to his original sin

Source: Rolling Stone, by Kory Grow

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For about 17 minutes, as shown in The Devil and Father Amorth, the priest sits next to the woman. He literally thumbs his nose at the Devil and begins to pray at which point Cristina's voice drops significantly, sounding very much like Regan's demon voice in both the movie The Exorcist and how it was described in Blatty's book as "deep and thick with menace and power." Cristina shouts "Stop it" in Italian.

"Surrender to the will of God," Amorth commands as several men restrain her as she attempts to leap forward. "Surrender to the will of the Virgin Mary. Surrender to the will of Jesus. … The Virgin Mary will destroy you, Satan." It's not quite "The Power of Christ compels you" with Linda Blair floating in the air as Holy Water rips her skin apart, but it's still arresting. Cristina's demon tells Amorth that it is Satan Himself but also that there are many demons inside her. "We are legion." When it's done, Cristina appears to return to normal until Amorth exorcises her parents in case the demon moved to another person and she lashes out again.

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To understand it all better, Friedkin took his home-movie exorcism to various experts – brain surgeons, psychiatrists, representatives of the church – and interviewed them for the second half of The Devil and Father Amorth. Dr. Neil Martin, then the chair of neurology staff at UCLA, described Cristina as experiencing an "major force within her." He added that Cristina seemed to be suffering delirium and, when Friedkin asks if she would be better helped by brain surgery than this ritual, the doctor says, "unlikely." "I haven't seen this kind of consequence from any [regularly treatable] disorders," he explains.

A group of shrinks referred Friedkin to their bibles: the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the World Health Organization's International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. Dissociative Identity Disorder, as defined in DSM-V, is "an experience of possession." It explains: "Possession-form identities in D.I.D. typically manifest as behaviors that appear as if a 'spirit,' supernatural being or outside person has taken control, such that the individual begins speaking or acting in a distinctively different manner. … An individual may be 'taken over' by a demon or deity, resulting in profound impairment, and demanding that an individual or a relative be punished for a past act, followed by more subtle periods of identity alteration." Moreover, it says, "The identities that arise during possession-form D.I.D. … are not a normal part of a broadly accepted cultural or religious practice," dovetailing even deeper into Friedkin's mystery of faith. One of the doctors compared exorcism to "placebo response" – "If you believe something is more likely to work, it's more likely to work." To that point, it's worth noting, too, that because the diagnosis is faith-based, people who aren't Christian, such as Muslims or Jews, are unlikely to be seeking a Catholic exorcist.

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Read it all at: https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/features/exorcist-director-william-friedkin-horror-documentary-devil-possession-w519493

[thegoose]

1. A true epoch-maker

The 60s blew the doors off the film industry with "Bonnie & Clyde," "Easy Rider" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" but "The Exorcist" began a decade of insanely incredible filmmaking, free of censorship. I first saw "The Exorcist" when I was 13, and since it was rated X in my town, my awesome dad sneaked me in behind him to see it. Of course, I had terrible nightmares for weeks afterward.

People think of the 70s as being the disco, free sex, cocaine and platform shoe decade, but there were so many legendary films made back then. To wit:

Network
Taxi Driver
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Carrie
Mean Streets
The Godfather and The Godfather Part II
Dog Day Afternoon
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

etc....etc.....etc......

[yallerdawg]

3. The movie and book were based on a Real Life event.

"The Exorcist" was based on the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty, which was in turn inspired by the exorcism case of Roland Doe, a pseudonym given to the victim by the Catholic Church. Most of the details surrounding Doe's alleged possession and exorcisms come from a diary kept by the attending priest, Fr. Raymond Bishop, and from newspaper reports that came from an at the time anonymous source, which was later revealed to be the Doe family's former pastor, the Reverend Luther Miles Schulze. Later, Thomas B. Allen wrote a book about the case, "Possessed: The True Story of an Exorcism" (published in 1993), which was based on two sources: Bishop's diary and the testimony of Fr. Walter Halloran, one of the last surviving eyewitnesses of the events and a participant in the second leg of exorcisms.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/blogs/movie-talk/exorcist-real-life-story-behind-40-old-horror-225110306.html

[edhopper]

9. So was the Amityville Horror

another "true story" that turned out to be bunk.

[yallerdawg]

10. Is this the "A is to B so C is to D" argument?

If this gives you comfort, solace and security, and affirmation of what you believe to be true, good for you. :

[edhopper]

11. I guess you'd rather

believe in ghost stories for comfort.

[MuseRider]

6. That book scared the crap out of me.

I was in high school at that time. There were tons of good novels out (also Love Story, lol that was certainly not among the good novels or movies) and that one just blew my mind. The movie, while enjoyable, did not scare me nearly as much as reading the book. I tried to watch it not long ago and I hate to say it but I turned it off. I guess there is a big difference between 16 and 64.

I would be very curious to see this documentary.

[MineralMan]

2. When the church turns to magic and sorcery, what is left?

There are no demons that invade people. That's magic and sorcery. No such thing has ever been demonstrated in any medical way. Instead, people thought to have demons inside them by the superstitious can be treated these days and usually live a more or less normal life.

But, no, the Roman Catholic Church reverts to Middle Ages rituals to treat what wasn't understood back then, but is understood today much better. The church exorcises people in 2018!

WTF?

And people take this magician and sorcerer stuff seriously? How can that be? I ask.

What bullshit this is!

[Bradshaw3]

4. My favorite Friedkin film is Sorcerer

Which has nothing to do with the occult.

[edhopper]

7. Yea, a great film

Why the didn't keep the title of the original French film, I have no idea.

[msongs]

5. one wonders why the all powerful god chooses to let people be "possessed" in

the first place. seems sort of passive aggressive

[yallerdawg]

8. In this woman's case, she had a demonic curse placed on her by close relatives.

From outside of a "belief" this can all seem "absurd."

But for a vast number of people around the world, these kinds of things are a common, everyday occurrence. It is real. It is reality.

You can go into any New Age store in America and see candles, spells, potions, and books on these subjects.

A wide variety of ethnic stores offer candles and cures to ward off evil, curses and possessions.

[edhopper]

12. Or a little critical thinking can be used

Last edited Thu Apr 26, 2018, 06:28 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.csicop.org/si/show/exorcism_driving_out_the_nonsense

[yallerdawg]

13. Start from the position of disbelief...

and then confirm that position with skepticism and alternative theorizing.

Disbelief and skepticism are always supported by "critical thinking."

[edhopper]

14. Start with the concept

that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Or start with faith and disregard any facts that get in the way.

Funny how skepticism is supported by facts.