Tags: 1973, IMDB250, Film Critic
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The Exorcist (Exorcist) 1973
is a very traditional horror film. Looking at the classics of the last seventies in the world, the rhythm and plot are too simple.
Although it doesn't look so exciting now, the two hours passed in a flash, and it still held my heart tightly.
As a horror film with such a simple plot, you can see how hard the director is in shooting.
The little girl's acting skills are good. At her age, it is indeed very difficult to play multiple personalities.
The special effects are too crude, of course from the current point of view.
The above is what I wrote on Mtime.com on 2010-05-11. After watching the movie again, I realized that I didn't understand the movie at all. Of course, it couldn't prove that I understood the movie now. The difference between the two rewatches can only prove once again that the movie cannot be watched only once. Many movies need to be watched many times to truly understand the movie.
The movie tells the story of the exorcist expelling the devil. The story takes place in a single-parent family. The mother is a famous movie star and the daughter is a good girl. Because the mother and father separated, the mother and daughter moved from Los Angeles to New York. The daughter is a happy girl, but after the father ignored her birthday, the daughter became abnormal and often said that the bed would shake. The mother took her daughter to see a doctor. The doctor prescribed some medicine to the girl, thinking that she would recover soon. But afterwards, her daughter's condition got worse and worse, she even had incontinence at the party, and her mother also witnessed the bed shaking. The mother continued to look for a doctor. The doctors suspected that her daughter had a tumor and asked her to do various tests. One day, when my mother returned home and found her daughter alone at home, she later learned that one of her director friends had fallen to death. After that, the sheriff found a psychiatrist who was a priest and explained to him the director's death and his suspicions, hoping that the priest could help him, but the priest refused. The mother continued to see her daughter, but after seeing various doctors, they had no solution. One doctor suggested to go to the priest to exorcise the demon. In this way, the mother met with the priest who was a psychologist and invited him to see his daughter at home. After the priest came into contact with his daughter, he found that there was indeed a devil possessed, and the devil cunningly used the priest's newly-dead mother to confuse him. After several days of research, the priest decided to ask his superiors for instructions on exorcism. The superior agreed to this request and found an old priest with exorcism experience. The old priest is now conducting archaeological research, and he once excavated a mysterious statue in Iraq. After seeing the statue, he left soon. In the middle of the night, the old priest came to the mother and daughter's house to perform an exorcism with the priest. However, in the process of exorcism, the old priest died, and the priest was possessed by the demon. Under the control of the priest himself, he fell through the window and fell to his death. All this was seen by the sheriff who was observing outside the room. A few days later, when the mother and her daughter hurriedly prepared to leave New York, the mother's assistant found the necklace worn by the priest. The mother wanted to return it to the priest's friend, but the priest's friend left it to the mother. Finally, when the mother's family left, the sheriff stopped the priest's friend and the two went to lunch together.
After rewatching it for the second time, I discovered that the understanding of the film at the first viewing was wrong from the most basic point, because the film is not a horror film, but a feature film. It is much more complicated and profound than today's horror movies with bloody flesh and blood, and the characters die one after another, and the plot and details are more rigorous. The most important thing is that the film has a deep theme, not just to satisfy people's low-level sensory stimulation. The film mainly shows two contradictory aspects. In the first aspect, movies express that there are many problems in the world that are difficult to explain and solve through science, and faith is the key to solving all of them. In other words, if you live without faith, the devil will find you. This is the mainstream view of a devout audience in the West. The second theme is to overturn the previous inferences, telling the audience that the devil is invincible, and no matter how pious the faith is, it is futile. Through these two aspects, and the priest killed the devil attached to him by his own will, it can be concluded that the theme of the movie-human power can defeat the devil.
The plot of the film closely revolves around the theme of the film. First of all, the film shows the first aspect. In the process of her daughter's medical treatment, it is evident that science is incapable of facing the devil. The doctor first regarded her daughter's state as ordinary adolescent restlessness, then thought it was a brain tumor, then thought it was a mental illness, and finally put her in a mental hospital. How ridiculous the whole process looks! Looking at the serious and polite doctors in the film, they have a well-established look, which strongly reflects the frustration of science in the face of the unknown. For another example, the existence of a sheriff shows a pale view of the unknown in terms of mainstream social values. Every time the sheriff appeared like a clown, everything was deduced from common sense. He never thought that there were still many problems in the world that could not be explained by common sense. From the above two aspects, it can be known that the sheriff and doctors represent the thinking of the general public-there is no devil, exorcism is even more bullshit! Next, the movie showed the pious belief in weakness and powerlessness in the face of the devil. The most typical of this aspect is the result of exorcism. It is ironic that two exorcist masters, who have been rendered in a plot, seem to have boundless power, died in the hands of the devil during a hard work of exorcism! After carefully reviewing the movie, you will find that to the devil, the exorcism is just a trick to fool people, a scam by the devil to trap two priests. Sure enough, the devil, like the old priest said, "the devil loves to lie." He is a natural liar. Finally, although the devil is still dead, the cause of the devil's death is in sharp contrast: the death of the devil does not depend on faith, not science, but on the will and strength of ordinary people. This is the theme that the movie really wants to express-human will can overcome everything, even the devil!
Through the above analysis, we can see the excellence of this film. It not only overturns ordinary people's identification with science, but also overturns the piety of Western audiences! It denies everything in the human world, but emphasizes the power of man! This is what makes this film unique and gives the audience a new kind of hope in that era. In addition, once you understand the theme of the film, you will feel the real horror of the film-faith and science are powerless to defeat the devil, so what else is worth believing? Through the display of this film, people feel unprecedented helplessness. Since science is useless, why study? If faith is useless, why should we be religious? Therefore, if the film is a horror film, it conveys psychological fear rather than bloody sensory stimulation. This is also the best part of this film.
There are still many unsolved mysteries in the movie. First, it is difficult to understand the scene of the old priest in Iraq. In my opinion, the old priest should have seen and felt a certain threat in Iraq, so he hurried away. Second, when the daughter possessed by the devil spoke English, she mentioned the name of the old priest, which shows that the devil is connected with the old priest. Third, the priest was finally possessed not willingly, but the devil's initiative, because the devil tore off the protective beam. From the above, we can know that the devil and the old priest are inextricably linked, and the necklace with the silver coin is the key. The hateful thing is that the movie does not explicitly address these unsolved mysteries. So, I have to guess wildly: because the old priest touched the idol in Iraq, the devil wanted to kill the old priest. Immediately, the devil set up a huge trap to induce the old priest to come to the girl's house to exorcise the devil, and killed the old priest. However, when the devil wanted to possess the priest and leave, he died together with the priest with a strong will. The reason why the priest has a strong will is because he was a boxer. In my opinion, this is the true story of the movie. Mothers, daughters, etc. are just tools used by the devil to attract old priests to be fooled. And we can also know that there are times when the devil can't figure it out. He didn't expect that the priest used to be a boxer.
Finally, the film itself. This film is a very good-looking feature film. The whole film has 132 minutes without the slightest coldness. The rhythm is relaxed and it has grasped my heart tightly. Looking at such an orthodox narrative, I can't help feeling that the films of the 1970s are the most suitable for ordinary audiences to enjoy! Because the tempo of movies before the 1960s was too slow or the speed of speech was too fast, and the structure of movies after the 1980s was too avant-garde, only the movies of the 1970s could meet the public's aesthetics. In addition, the costumes, styles, scenery, and props in the movie also showed the living conditions of the upper class in the United States at that time. They were very luxurious, but very in line with the plot. As for the horror atmosphere of the movie, it seems rough. Very fake devil possessed and puppet-like daughters, and quite fake vomit, all show the outdated film technology at that time. However, when the priest committed suicide at the end of the film, the change in eye color was still amazing. I couldn't figure out how it was filmed. Other aspects of the film are quite satisfactory, not much to say.
Among the actors, apart from the heroine, they are not well-known. The heroine Ellen Burstyn is a familiar face. I saw her in "The Last Movie" some time ago. She is still so beautiful in this film, so I won't say more. The daughter's actor Linda Blair's performance is amazing and it feels incredible. She perfectly interprets two personalities, one is a cute and cute girl, the other is a fierce and cruel devil. The character transformation and performance are well-accepted. Such a talented actor did not win the Oscar for Best Actress. She felt that pity. Regrettably, she never became popular afterwards. Although Kitty Winn, who plays the role of the mother's assistant, is a supporting role, she is indeed the most eye-catching and beautiful woman in the film. She was so pure at the time. It's a pity that such a beauty hasn't become popular. Others are not familiar with it, so I won't talk about it.
In general, this is a perfect movie worthy of careful recollection, unmatched by those superficial horror films. Even if the film is regarded as a horror film, it is a masterpiece that is unique and better than other horror films. It is well-deserved to be selected for IMDB250 and won the Oscar.
Kitty Winn
Kitty Winn
sequence: 0684
The.Exorcist.Extended.DC.1973.BluRay.720p.DTS.x264-CHD
2012-01-04
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