The Pope's Exorcist is an american supernatural horror, mystery and thriller film directed by Julius Avery. The all-important title role is portrayed by Russell Crowe who adds a bit of humor and delivers a memorable performance, with Daniel Zovatto, Alex Essoe, and Franco Nero in supporting roles.
Plot
In 1987, Father Gabriele Amorth, the chief exorcist of the Vatican, visits an Italian village where he was told a man is possessed by a demon. With the local priest, Amorth enters the room where the man is tied up. While exorcising him, Amorth tells the demon to possess a pig, which is then shot and killed.
Amorth is summoned in a Church tribunal, accused of performing an exorcism without permission, and was told that The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith recommended that his position as Chief Exorcist be vacated. Amorth replies that evil does exist, and that he did not perform an exorcism, but rather, used primitive psychology to help the mentally ill man. He makes them know that he knows he was summoned because of an article he wrote about Rosaria Velendez, a girl who committed suicide, and not completely because of the unsanctioned exorcism, before walking out of the room.
Henry, his mother Julia, and his rebellious teenage sister Amy had traveled from America to take possession of San Sebastian abbey which was Henry's father's sole bequest to his family after he died in a car accident. The family were going to stay in the abbey until renovations were, complete, but the reconstruction work freed a demon which possessed Henry.
Henry, diabolically possessed, requests a priest; the local Father Tomas Esquibel arrives, but Henry throws him out saying he's the wrong priest. The Pope assigns Amorth to visit Henry in Spain. Amorth arrives and finding out the demon was real, enlists Esquibel as assistant, though Esquibel is untrained as an exorcist.
The duo attempt to exorcise Henry, without success, as he utters blasphemous phrases during the rite. He shows Amorth visions from his past and mocks Esquibel for fornication. Esquibel confesses his fornication to Amorth and he absolves him, and gives him a prayer to learn in latin to use for the exorcism.
Amorth finds a well on the abbey grounds going down to a complex sealed off by the Church as demonically dangerous. He learns that a founder of the Spanish Inquisition, The Friar De Ojeda, an exorcist, was possessed, which let him infiltrate the Church and do many evils. Amorth also finds the Church covered this up, and eventually discovers the name of Henry's demon, Asmodeus, from the friar's journal.
Amorth confesses to Esquibel about something that burdened him. After he survived World War II and vowed to serve God in gratitude, a mentally-ill woman asked for Amorth's help, and died by suicide when he did not help her due to pride. Esquibel absolves him and the two ready themselves to battle asmodeus again. Amorth gives Esquibel a Miraculous Medal. During the exorcism, they have horrible visions of the women whom they failed. The demon possessed Amy at times and tried to kill them. The exorcism succeeds only when Amorth offers himself to be possessed.
Amorth tries to hang himself, but the demon doesn't allow it, preferring that Amorth infiltrate and destroy the Church. Esquibel arrives and begins to exorcise asmodeus, saying the latin prayers which he was a bit reluctant to learn. Amorth, resisting from inside, helps drive away the demon.
Asmodeus takes the physical forms of the two women who troubled the men, Rosaria and Adella, and the Priests defeat them with the medal and the crucifix. They finally cast him out by praying the final rites, "In the name of The Father, and of The Son, and of The Holy Spirit, see thee beneath God".
The Pope recovers, as does Henry. The triumphant duo visit Rome, and find Sullivan has taken leave in Guam, being replaced by Lumumba. Amorth and Esquibel are admitted to a special Church archive; Lumumba tells them they will be visiting hundreds of other evil sites, with the help of a map Amorth discovered at the abbey, to battle the Devil, and Amorth jokingly tells Esquibel, "let's go to hell."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pope%27s_Exorcist
The movie ends with a suggestion that there is room for a sequel or even an entire series. Things might get more interesting, and I'm looking forward to it.
I'm sure none of you will ever encounter a demon, but on the off chance that you do, some of the rites and requirements of exorcism were explained by Amorth.
—You must confess your sins, the demon will use your sins against you.
—Find out the name of the demon. Knowing the name of demons weakens them, and helps with the exorcism.
—Constant prayer disturbs demons.
—Demons are stronger in the night.
—Prayer has more power in latin.
Taking notes? It's all fiction lmao
Review
The movie isn't perfect, but it's certainly a great watch.
Russell Crowe's performance was great and he did a good job with his Italian accent. His character is lovable, and he loves his espresso, his jokes, his whiskey, and his vespa. Other characters were well played too, and you'll love them, even the demon.
The special effects and CGI for the most part were good, and I enjoyed the depth to the plot and how it approached faith and Christianity in general.
It's scary, but not very scary, although it'll keep you entertained throughout its runtime. It's a good film and I'd recommend it to any fans of the religious horror/possession genre.
The Pope’s Exorcist is not a true story, but a fictional retelling based off the notes of the Vatican’s former Chief Exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, who died in 2016. It takes pieces of reality in which Amorth was involved and expands them into a fantasy universe, clearly for entertainment purposes.
The demon asmodeus doesn't appear in the normal Bible, but is mentioned in the deuterocanonical book of Tobit. He is one of the seven princes of hell, each for one of the seven deadly sins. Asmodeus represents lust, and that might explain his constant use of F-words and his vulgar tone in the movie.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classification_of_demons#Binsfeld's_classification_of_demons
Some quotes
Asmodeus
—Your sins will seek you out
Father Amorth
—trauma can be a gateway for the devil
—to defeat the king of hell, we require the armour of God
Favorite quotes
"A mother's love is the closest thing we know to God's love" - Father Amorth
"The only thing that can defeat us is ourselves" - Father Amorth
From the movie, we can learn a few things
Mental illness is serious and shouldn't be dismissed as nothing.
As illustrated with Rosaria's suicide.Give help to those who need it.
If either or both priests abandoned the family like the construction workers did, they would've been done for.Pride has consequences.
Amorth was burdened for years because Rosaria's death was partly his fault.You can't do everything alone.
Get help when you need it. If Amorth faced asmodeus alone, he'd have lost. But with Esquibel helping him, they were able to defeat the demon.Don't move into an old building in the middle of a forest.
Thanks for reading.
All unsourced images are screenshots from the movie, The Pope's Exorcist.