The Rite

Despite all the science and technology available in 21st-century medicine, some patients are still diagnosed as suffering from demonic possession. The Rite delves into this disquieting subject, and while it gives us plenty to get spooked about, the film's shortfall of ambiguity ultimately makes it feel like we're being recruited by the church.

Battling with his own faith, seminary student Michael Kovak (Colin O'Donoghue) decides it's probably time to hang up his cassock and quit the priesthood. But as a last-ditch attempt to retain his protégé, Father Matthew (Toby Jones) packs Michael off to Vatican exorcism school (it does indeed exist). As the elder puts it, "Two months in Rome - how bad could that be?"

Once there, Michael is presented with ample diabolic "proof" - slides of people with spontaneously dislocated jaws, videos of people making very peculiar sounds - yet he still refuses to believe the Devil's at large. That's when the young doubter is nudged in the direction of Father Lucas Trevant.

If there's one man who can make us feel uneasy with seemingly no effort, it's Anthony Hopkins. The Welshman inhabits the unorthodox exorcist role with prowess, pottering about the kitchen like a cuddly grandfather one moment, the next, screaming at a pregnant teenager while striking her about the chops.  

So mercurial is Trevant, we never feel we know who he is, the effect being that we can't take our eyes off him. Is he a trickster? A witch doctor? A pervert? Just an eccentric priest? Hopkins' nebulousness feeds our (and Michael's) desire to get to the bottom of all this creepy nonsense.

Chucked straight into the deep end, Michael witnesses Trevant's exorcism on the aforementioned teen. As the exorcist takes a call on his cell midsession (an inspired gag), the girl hones in on Michael, denouncing him in a deep demonic tone (why do the possessed never sound like Tweety Pie?) with things that only he could know. Someone, or something, has got it in for him.

An intellectual horror-cum-religious rite of passage, The Rite will force questions into the mind of the most stringent atheist. Having an unconvinced priest as the protagonist is a savvy move; Michael's initial incredulity means that when he starts believing again, we're more inclined to as well.

Added to that, The Rite plies us with "facts" to bolster assertions that the Devil is a very real entity; a prologue and epilogue hammer this home, while the film claims to be inspired by real-life events.

With this combination of alleged facts, and some convincing acting (O'Donoghue is endearing, and so is Alice Braga as his newfound journalist friend) The Rite is a horror with a lot more gravitas than many.

Plus it's a veritable jump-a-thon: Red-eyed mules kick down doors, girls spit rusty nails, and a scene involving Trevant and a dolly-cuddling girl is guaranteed to prompt at minimum a horrified gasp. There are even a couple of well-placed references to The Exorcist to help lighten the mood. But then things get preachy, and this spoils everything.

As Michael becomes more embroiled with his demonic adversaries, Trevant himself comes down with a touch of the Demonitis. It's now Michael's job to exorcise the priest who's only just shown him how to do it. What devilish irony.

The trouble is we're not left to wonder if the Devil is at work or not; we're told that he is. Enigma no more, The Rite begins to feel like it has an agenda, as if warning us to keep an eye out for Lucifer and chums in the future.

The tail end of the film whiffs of a cop-out; all the layers of mystery that have been built up are dismissed too easily, and the histrionics-oozing final exorcism can be as theatrical as it likes - it's still a hell of a letdown.

What starts as a captivating edge-of-the-pew thriller becomes a melodrama loaded with Christianity, apparently designed to put the fear of God (and the Devil) into its audience. Unfortunately, not even the good name of Anthony Hopkins can entirely redeem it.

Will Noble can be reached at
wnoble@praguepost.com