This has to be the most "woke" "Exorcist" film I have ever seen, and that is not a compliment.
Really, the only reasons I went to see it at all, were Ellen Burstyn, Ann Dowd, and Linda Blair in a cameo at the end, as the adult Regan. All of them are superb, but I hope they were paid enough for the crap they had to go through.
Like the original, this film begins with a prologue in a foreign land--in this case Haiti. A pregnant woman is nearly killed in an earthquake, and the husband has to make a choice between mother and child--both cannot be saved. He chooses the child, which is actually right according to Catholic doctrine. But this film is not interested in Catholic doctrine, but political correctness--pitting a white possessed child against a black one, bringing in voodoo queens, shamans, priests, just about everyone but Muslims, as if anticipating current times. What's more the film is horribly exploitative. Remember that damn crucifix in the original? What was vulgar there becomes unnecessary and repulsive here--the demon uses it to gouge out Chris' (Ellen Burstyn) eyes. And this is shown more vividly than the crucifix in the original.
The original film did have the integrity to put Catholicism first. And David Gordon Green says he set out to do this film in honor of William Friedkin. His ghost should rise and grab Green by the throat.
"The Exorcist--Believer" is not so much a film as a trope for every so-called social remedy out there. Instead of getting down to business, the film loses its compass..
Skip this one, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the word “woke” in front of Anything is rarely meant as a compliment, that’s for sure!!
ReplyDeleteVictoria,
ReplyDeleteI am getting so tired of that term. Another one is "journey." ANNA mentioned that one, and I agree with her.