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'Emily Rose' a gripping courtroom drama
"The Exorcism of Emily Rose"
Screen Gems
Director: Scott Derrickson
Stars: Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Campbell Scott
MPAA rating: PG-13 for thematic material including intense/frightening sequences and disturbing images
"The Exorcism of Emily Rose" is not simply the latest in a long string of "Exorcist" ripoffs, but rather a courtroom drama that explores the consequences of conscience in an age of cynicism.
Based on a true story, as half of today's films claim to be, "Emily Rose" begins after the death of the title character.
Most of it unfolds before and during the trial of the exorcist, Father Richard Moore (Tom Wilkinson), a Catholic priest who refuses to plea-bargain or to compromise in any way his earlier judgment. He insists on the opportunity to tell the deceased's story in court.
The diocese approves the selection of agnostic Erin Bruner (Laura Linney) to defend Father Moore, but keeps a distance, perhaps because the strong-willed defendant could be a loose cannon and/or because of the church's wariness of cases that can be exploited.
Erin is a junior law partner who scored points recently with her successful defense of a man most believed was guilty. And was.
The prosecuting attorney is Ethan Thomas (Campbell Scott), a church-going Protestant who intends to prove negligent homicide in an "exorcism gone bad."
In flashbacks, which occur sequentially, we meet Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter), a 19-year-old rural Catholic who won a college scholarship and, at school, quickly developed what one doctor calls "psychotic-epileptic disorder."
Emily, a believer (unlike the daughter and mother in "The Exorcist"), suspects that a more demon-related -- or in some way spiritual -- crisis is at play and encourages Father Moore's help.
He, in turn, discourages her use of prescriptions because they lock her into a state that shields her from an exorcism cure. She becomes physically and psychologically dependent upon him at the expense of medical treatment.
To the movie audience, he's no self-serving witch doctor but an empathetic clergyman who was too inexperienced or too overpowered to win the war for her life. Emily made decisions for herself to the end.
"Demons exist whether you believe in them or not," the priest says.
Movies for the past decade or more have bashed the Catholic Church six ways from Sunday. "Emily Rose" intelligently examines a complex case through good, prickly adult interaction that exhibits no such bias.
Some of what happens is open to interpretation. Do we believe what we do because of what the film dramatizes and how it makes its case?
Apart from the excessive use of loud noises in scenes involving Emily's crisis, the crackling good drama is plenty creepy and steeped in smart parts.
Hundreds of movies exploit evil and conjure up demons of some sort.
"The Exorcism of Emily Rose" is one of the few to take the logical next step: Evil has a counterpart. Mustn't demons, then, too?
