The Exorcist was a courageous
movie for its time and place— the United States in the early
1970’s. Even though William Peter Blatty’s novel had been a
best-seller, producing this movie and getting it distributed
were far from easy.
The Exorcist was not a
typical 70’s film; it was not afraid to paint its picture in bold
colors, showing good and evil as two distinct forces… forces
fated to battle face to face.
Ironically, this was a major reason for its box
office success. America was in need
of hopefulness. The Exorcist left you
feeling that courage and faith might be rewarded, not
tossed into the garbage. Along with
Jaws and Alien, The Exorcist was
a major force in pushing horror movies into the mainstream.
The early 70’s was still a time of much angry
social/political finger-pointing. But this movie was
not afraid to make its statement; that some issues were
simpler than conservative vs. liberal, pro-choice
vs. pro-life. In doing this, it raised your hopes of
finding heroes willing to go to war with evil, not to
watch passively.
The evil in The Exorcist is
not suggested; it is shown, more graphically than
anything up till that time. The movie broke new ground in
its violence and sexuality. No movie before it had dared to
combine religious and sexual imagery like this one did, not even
Ken Russell’s The Devils, which had received an X
rating two years before.
The Exorcist’s plot is not
complicated—it deals with Pazuzu, an Asian demon, thousands of
years old. It asks you to imagine: What if this
ancient evil somehow possessed a young girl in present-day
America? And what if the girl’s mother (not Catholic, or
even religious herself) was to choose Roman Catholic priests to
drive out this demon?
One major challenge facing the novel and the movie:
how do you portray absolute good and absolute evil? How
would they speak? What actions would they take? The
novel (and the screenplay, which followed the novel closely)
had to make the dialogue and the action specific.
In other words, this is how absolute evil and good would
function in a real situation. You would expect that each
individual’s image of good and evil’s actions is highly personal.
Let me give one crude, but memorable example.
During the exorcism, the demon (through Regan’s voice) makes some
vulgar sexual references to Merrin’s (the title character)
mother. To a sheltered, provincial person, these remarks
might seem unspeakably vile, almost unbearable to hear. To a
tough, big-city kid, the same remarks sound no worse than
something heard in their neighborhood playground. Thoroughly
not shocking. But this is an exception, a rare
example of bad judgment in the writing.
Why is it this little girl, Regan McNeil,
whom the demon chooses to possess? Regan seems to be a
random choice. She is a special girl but not
that special; most of us have been fortunate enough to
know one child like her.
Regan is not a saint. But she is a sweet girl,
clearly finding joy and hope in everyday life, even though her
parents are separating, and her father seems unwilling to stay
part of her life.
The daughter Chris can not forget; no saint but radiating an
unmistakable sweetness
Chris, Regan’s mom, is no saint either.
But her importance in this movie cannot be overstated. Watch it
again, concentrate on Chris, and you’ll see what I’m talking
about.
She is the good mother we all wanted, someone able
to give unconditional love, and hang in for her child under the
ugliest of circumstances. That in itself is plenty.
Chris; not a larger-than-life figure, but the good mother we
all wanted
Most people are quite familiar with
The Exorcist’s plot, from reading the
best-selling novel, seeing the movie, or word of mouth.
Everyone seemed to be talking about it, from legal
secretaries to ministers in your neighborhood church. The
climactic exorcism scenes have passed into American folklore,
lampooned on Saturday Night Live and the
Scary Movie series by such well-known actors as
Richard Pryor, James Woods, and God knows who else.
A little more of the plot. An American girl,
about 11, experiences severe psychological problems with no
explanation. Along with out-of-control behavior come
mysterious noises, then her bed shaking violently. Her
mother, Chris is like many of us. She respects religion in
general but rarely finds it meaningful in day-to-day life.
Science, medical science, is where she looks for her
answers to Regan’s condition.
The tests Regan undergoes are painful
and invasive. But they do not help her in any way.
Many felt the pain Regan undergoes (and the limitations of
modern Western medicine it underlines) scared them more than
anything later
And you watch a subtle change in this gentle
girl’s response to the medical people, first defensive, then
out-and-out hostile. To a sensitive mother, Regan
seems to be getting swallowed up– and silenced, by another force.
You can easily overlook this insight, in the tidal wave of
special effects to come.
But Chris never misses this crucial
thread. She has a devastating sense of the real Regan being
pulled into a pit. Yet she knows that Regan’s
gentle, sweet spirit can never be destroyed.
Regan–Her essence buried by outside forces
A lot has been written about the special effects in
The Exorcist, the hideous changes in Regan’s face
and voice. Most found them brutally terrifying. A few
found them laughable.
Many intellectuals stuck to the old argument that
showing something scary is never as frightening as
suggesting it… leaving it to each individual to conjure up what is
most frightening to them.
But for many people (including myself), seeing the
transformation onscreen was another story. I think my
reaction ( absolute terror) at watching Regan change was
a typical one. The make-up job on Linda Blair (Regan) and
her dubbed voice, by veteran actress Mercedes McCambridge won
well-deserved praise.
Watching The Exorcist again for the
first time in many years, what struck me was this: I could
remember what Regan did in her possessed state, but not
the timing. Who else was there. That some of the worst
brutality and viciousness are experienced first, experienced
alone by Chris. The slap that leaves her face
bruised for weeks. Regan’s masturbation with the
cross. Regan pushing Chris’ face against her crotch.
Her head turning to reveal an expression of hatred, of contempt
for her mother.
The masturbation is riveting partly because, as many
critics said, it takes two totally separate entities, the sacred
and the beastly, and smashes them together. They are
absolutely right.
But there is a second part to it. Taking two
such extremes and forcing them together this way, is to say to you
in plain terms that every value judgment you make is
meaningless.
That it’s all a hopeless, pathetic joke.
Hitler, Stalin, Charles Manson…they’re
just like Gandhi, Lincoln, or Nelson Mandela.
Chris survives the test. Listen to the way she
tells Father Damien, “You tell me that thing
upstairs is my daughter.”
Chris has looked deep into the heart of pure
despair. Yet she still holds onto her love and faith.
As Regan and Chris’s story unfolds, another struggle
is going on. This is Father Damien Karras’s story.
Father Damien is a priest and psychiatrist with the massive
responsibility of counseling other priests at Georgetown
University. The endless demands and his growing guilt about
his mother’s poverty and illness are taking a heavy toll.
His last visit to his mother is an eye-opener.
She lives alone in an alien, threatening city landscape. She
has never made the leap from a Greek way of life to an American
lifestyle and that isolates her even more. The less she asks
of her son, the more he feels her unspoken demands. Money
would not cure her problems but it could ease some of her
sorrows. And Father Damien has none to spare from his
priest’s salary.
And the vocation he has sacrificed for, no longer
seems worth the sacrifice. On the subway, Father Damien
walks away from a beggar and his lack of compassion saddens
him. Soon afterwards Damien’s mother dies in a pitiful City
hospital; he cannot justify the hardships she was forced to live
through.
Ironically it is a medical doctor who gives Chris the
idea of getting an exorcism for Regan. Without showing you
each intermediate stage, the story gives you an understanding of
how a skeptic like Chris could take this path.
Chris finally meets Father Damien to ask for
help. It is a quiet but monumental scene; you feel that both
people have found what they needed.
You learn much less about the man selected to conduct
the exorcism, Father Merrin. He had performed an exorcism
years before and nearly died in the process. He is also an
archaeologist in the Middle East. During his last visit, he
has a premonition when he finds a small likeness of Pazuzu, then
later finds himself standing face to face with a statue of the
demon.
The moment the two priests enter the house, you can
feel the tension flooding, wave upon wave. Father Merrin
(Max von Sydow) is a combat-tested soldier with an unwavering
attitude. Father Damien has more direct connections to
Regan. From talking to Chris, he has gained a vision of the
child and her goodness.
Drawing the demon out is a more personal struggle for
Damien than it is for Merrin. Damien has more weaknesses and
doubts; the demon means to attack these vulnerable spots.
Regan and Father Merrin have already been pushed to their physical
limits and are close to death from the strain. All could
easily pay a heavy price for driving away the demon.
A brutal mind-fuck aimed at Father Damien; the demon manifests
as Damien’s’ mother
Father Merrin–ready to risk his life for Regan’s soul
The screenplay gets rid of some of the novel’s
hokey, borderline-macho lines from Father Damien when he
challenges the demon. A definite improvement. The
exorcism’s aftermath leaves you with a cautious optimism.
No light beaming down from Heaven or angels
appearing. But a subtle peace on a human level.
Watch the expression on Regan’s face as she kisses Father
Dyer’s collar (Father Karras’ close friend). It is a moment
you will remember.
This movie is a lot more than blood and the
split-pea soup that so many joked about at the time. Faith
is a highly individual part of each of us; not easy to
change. But this movie may restore our faith in finding
heroes who keep their word, who risk everything to fight for
something they believe in.