Lawyer Irene presented a piece of evidence to the jury and the judge. It was a cassette, which lasted more than an hour. The phonograph recorded the terrible voice of a girl with a double vocal cord, speaking an ancient language, and proclaiming that she was a fallen angel and demon king Lucifer living on Cain, Nero, Judas, and the Roman legions. The producer of the recording, Father Moore, said that the recording was a record of an exorcism ritual. It is a pity that the exorcism ultimately failed, and the girl died in great pain. The priest was taken to court because the attorney general believed that it was the so-called absurd exorcism ceremony that delayed the opportunity for medical treatment and caused the death of the victim.
As a horror film, of course the director will put effort into depicting the mysterious exorcism scene. However, the reason why this film is so good is that it puts the focus of the narrative on the trial process. The meticulous and professional description of the judicial proceedings makes the audience be enveloped by a deep suspense of reasoning.
At the beginning of the film, the audience's doubts were relieved: Is Emily really possessed? Yes, both obsession and exorcism are true things. The director can use the lens to tell the audience the "fact", but how does the defense lawyer in the play persuade the jury to accept this "fact"? Perhaps it is more difficult to convince others than to believe it yourself. In this film, the biggest drama is not in the exorcism itself, but in the defense strategy of lawyer Irene.
For the prosecution lawyer, the case is not tricky. All he has to do is to show the well-known "ridiculous" to the jury. However, trials also have another addictive magic: people who are proficient in judicial skills can "legally" humiliate and play with each other in court. The prosecutor in this case is obsessed with it. Not only does he have to win the lawsuit, but he also has to strip the defendant out of his body.
The prosecution lawyer has a large number of witnesses, doctors, psychiatrists and so on. Some witnesses claimed to have witnessed Emily's body distorted to an unreasonable level when she was "obsessed." These images are exactly in line with Westerners' imagination of the devil, and we see them frequently in various horror films. The prosecution lawyer easily invited experts to "disenchant" everyone with the attitude of popularizing science: it was nothing more than muscle spasms during epileptic seizures. The reason why people are misunderstood by "obsessed" is entirely because the average person is rarely more weird. From the doctor's point of view, this can be described and explained by medical knowledge.
But the defense did not back down. Emily's epilepsy could explain the distortion of Emily's body, but how could she explain that she kept saying that there was a devil in her body? After all, epilepsy only causes muscle spasms, not neuroses. The prosecution lawyer had already anticipated this, and he hired a more authoritative scholar. As soon as this man appeared in court, he came to his home for a lengthy self-report. He published several monographs and piles of papers on the complications of epilepsy and psychosis in a special field. He confidently concluded that Emily was the victim of this rare symptom. Although this disease is rare, it has nothing to do with "obsessed" and other mysterious things. He sees more of the same symptoms.
So how do you explain Emily's double voice on the recording? The devil is attached to a person. When he speaks, his voice overlaps with the voice of the host puppet. This is one of the most direct imaginations of being "demonized" by people. The science in the hands of the prosecution lawyer did not disappoint him. He found evidence that humans have two vocal cords in physiological structure. Some people (such as monks in Tibet) can use both vocal cords to pronounce at the same time through contact. The effect of dual tone. Then, under special physical conditions, Emily may also temporarily gain this ability.
The prosecution's offensive was very fierce and aggressive, but the defense responded weakly, although Irene had the famous "resurrection" technique in court. In many previous successful defenses, Irene can always believe that her client is innocent, but in this case, it was difficult for her to understand and accept the defendant’s behavior, which brought her defense. Deep shadows.
Since the opening of the court, Irene has been in an awkward position. She found that she was not just for Father Moore, but also to prove the exorcism itself. Paradoxically, the act of argument itself is an exorcism. In this court, reason is both the plaintiff and the judge. It is not the priest but the irrational itself. What is instructive is that the defendant in this case, the person who really fought the devil face-to-face, Father Moore did not pursue the result of exoneration and victory from the beginning, and all he cared about was to show people the story he had experienced. This is quite a Socratic temperament. Tell the incredible story and tell the public that this is an irrational strategy, and it will not be deceived into the rational game rules. The defense lawyer Irene's first goal is to win the case, and she has to follow the rules of the game, even if she is destined to be played by the rules.
To prove that exorcism is real and feasible, the most direct evidence is to show it in court. However, the people who operate this skill are wizards and gods who are rejected and marginalized by reason, and they are incompatible with the tone of the law. Allowing such a person to appear in court will undoubtedly increase the weirdness of the defendant, strengthen the antipathy of the jury, and make the case worse. Irene racked her brains and finally found an anthropologist to testify in court that the so-called "obsession" is a common cultural phenomenon. Its authenticity and the effectiveness of the exorcism ritual can be described in scientific language.
The reason why anthropologists can testify in court is that she bears the identity of a doctor of a prestigious university and a scientific researcher, and she uses rational language. Looking for the mystery that is scientifically confirmed and recognized is Irene's strategy. And this expert witness could not get the defendant out of the predicament. After all, in the eyes of people, the anthropologist’s research is undoubtedly on the edge of ideology. It can exist in the rational university system only because of some tolerance. . And tolerance is the most secret form of violence in human beings. In tolerance, irrationality is completely banished.
Irene was almost desperate, she had never felt the kind of difficulty she had experienced in this case. However, she slowly discovered that there were other things supporting her after winning the case. These things are slowly changing her prejudices about justice and the law.
With careful contact, Irene felt that Father Moore was an extremely kind and caring person. Since Emily's behavior was abnormal, all doctors and experts have treated this poor girl in such indifference. In their eyes, what they see is only a kind of intractable disease, and all treatment plans are aimed at the disease. And only Father Moore cared for Emily, he treated a person, and his treatment plan was also aimed at the person.
Who will accompany Emily through the journey of life? The doctors can't cure the patient, they can express their powerlessness, shrug their shoulders and walk away, throwing the patient into despair and pain without any blame. And the person who never gave up to save was sent to the dock by people. Irene's defense strategy has changed. She no longer entangles the false question of whether the exorcism is reasonable, but instead accuses the people of the ignorance of the people in this incident.
Irene's closing resignation is quite impressive. She reminded that the prosecution had always wanted to tell the jury what was the truth. However, whether epilepsy, mental illness, or exorcism, these are just possibilities. She further reflected on: Can we grasp the facts? Or is the law only capable of judging from all possible speculations? The doctors, medical experts, and prosecution lawyers all tried to take the so-called facts as their own in the name of science. They refuse to acknowledge their limitations and reject all irrational existence. But in the kingdom of knowledge they are trying to construct, what they show is the collapse of faith and the indifference of human feelings. It is a world that makes all consciences sad.
The outcome of this case was dramatic. Father Moore was found guilty, but his sentence was fully offset by custody. Thus, a person convicted of a crime is free when he walks out of the court. Is this winning or losing? It's hard to say, but the audience breathed a sigh of relief, secretly in their hearts, they all felt that justice was done smoothly.
In any case, this case does show us a real exorcism. But it is not Emily who is possessed by it, but the behemoth called science, although it firmly denies the existence of the devil. However, you probably don't know that the devil's most effective trick is to make people believe that they don't exist. The devil came to this world through unbelief. Check it out, who needs to be exorcised!
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