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Years after he changed the landscape of American filmmaking with 1973's THE EXORCIST, director, co-writer and legendary storyteller William Friedkin moves from fiction to fact with his new documentary, THE DEVIL AND FATHER AMORTH. What began as a brief conversation between Friedkin and Father Gabrielle Amorth - the head Exorcist for the Diocese of Rome for over 30 years - as two professionals who knew of each other's work soon transformed into an once-in-a- lifetime opportunity, as Amorth agreed Friedkin could film an exorcism ceremony. It would be the ninth exorcism for a painfully afflicted woman, Cristina (a pseudonym), who had already been under Father Amorth's care - and it would be filmed by Friedkin alone, with no other crew allowed, no light other than the natural light in the room and a small digital camera-and-mic unit that could capture the ritual and its revelations. Combining the startling and singular footage from Cristina's exorcism with interviews from priests and psychologists, neurosurgeons and non-believers, Friedkin guides us on a journey into the twilight world between the boundaries of what we know and what we don't with a singular and startling guide in the form of the urbane, charming and self-deprecatingly funny Father Amorth, a man who laughs in the face of the Devil both figuratively and literally. Combining Friedkin's past memories and present observations with archival footage and new interviews - as well as also presenting what may be the only real exorcism ceremony captured on film - THE DEVIL AND FATHER AMORTH is a startling and surprising story of the religion, the ritual and the real-world victims involved in possession and exorcism.
Rating
NR
Director
William Friedkin
Studio
The Orchard
Writer
William Friedkin, Mark Kermode
- Very eye-opening and disturbing documentary... I have read many of Fr. Amorth's books and to see some of that in a video documentary made things clearer.Reply
- The sound of the posessed woman's voice/screams is worth seeing it, though I found the director's story about his later meeting with the woman at the end of the movie even scarier - if only he had filmed that! Amorth comments that the demons can enter a nearby host after an exorcism, hopefully they can't come through the television to you.Reply
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- William Friedkin manages to create the perfect companion to his classic 1973 horror film The Exorcist with a docu that shows us the real thing.Reply
- It will polarize audiences, but keep viewers hooked to its sales pitch-the exorcism itself.Reply
- The hook of William Friedkin's The Devil and Father Amorth is the opportunity to see an actual exorcism on screen. The surprise is that the most interesting element of this documentary is not the rite itself, but where Friedkin goes with it.Reply
- The Exorcist director William Friedkin, 82, took a handheld camera and filmed an actual demon expulsion by Roman politician-turned-priest Gabriele Amorth, shortly before his death at 91.Reply
- Sometimes a bit overwrought [and] occasionally a little messy ... The Devil and Father Amorth is nevertheless fascinating and compellingReply
- If this documentary celebrates a crackpot, Mr. Friedkin is his match. The director's blabbermouth tendencies and wry manner make him an enjoyable M.C.Reply
- The documentary, accentuated with unnerving bursts of music sampled from the works of neoromantic composer Christopher Rouse, should placate the rabid fan base.Reply
- The film feels like a director thinking back on the work that defined his career, for better and worse.Reply
- While Friedkin has certainly not lost his taste for the sensational, a viewer would not be entirely wrong to detect some degree of penitence on the part of the famed director.Reply
- The Devil and Father Amorth is a flimsy stunt, but in his blunt, slapdash way, William Friedkin locates the intersection existing between religion and pop culture.Reply
- Friedkin's remarkable exorcism footage will be the selling point, but the film goes beyond it, raising provocative issues that will have you thinking and discussing long after it's over.Reply
- Whether or not you believe in the Devil, the film helps to color in how our culture got possessed.Reply