The first paragraph is about Father Merrin's archaeology in Iraq. This paragraph is not much dialogue, but there are many metaphors and details. Archaeology is digging up coins and statues. The pattern on the coin is of the Virgin holding a child. The coin can ward off evil spirits to some extent (Father Damien also wears a similar coin necklace), the assistant said that the coin and the cultural relics excavated by archaeology are not from the same era (← the statue is a cultural relic) , the statue should be a carrier of demons. It is speculated that there may be other priests wearing coin necklaces here to do something and then lost them. Judging from the result of the loss, what the priest did is estimated to have failed. Father Merrin saw the statue of Pazuzu at the ruins, the disease represented by the demon Pazuzu (Regan stinks and vomits after being possessed, like a state of illness, so I guess it may be possessed by Pazuzu). Then there is a metaphor of two dogs fighting each other, evil against evil Only demons can fight against demons (I have heard that Pazuzu can also be used to exorcise other demons), it is a response to coins (representative priest, god) that cannot be exorcised demon. Another detail is that the pendulum stops. I don't quite understand this detail. Maybe it means that the devil has come out of the cage?
The second paragraph is mainly about the daily family situation of Regan's mother and daughter. First of all, the parents are divorced and separated. Regan should be a typical image suitable for being possessed. Underage girls are sweet and artistic, and have good family education. They do not speak swear words. If they are placed in religion, they are probably the purest symbol in the eyes of God. The style of painting, so the devil likes this symbol, willing to possess and defile them. Regan has two weaknesses: one is the lack of fatherly love (I think of living as a mother and daughter, not enough yang, sweating), the second is that she has no faith but plays pen fairy, and is suspected of being close to the devil. So the devil is possessed.
The third paragraph is the background of Father Damien. Father Damien is like a complex of contradictions. He looks like a boxer, and his facial features are more aggressive. He also likes sports very much. He participates in boxing and long-distance running, but he is a preacher. Father, his temperament is gentle, and he is very good to his family. As a priest, Damien was sent by the church to study psychology. Psychology is a part of science, and most of it needs theoretical basis and factual evidence, which is contrary to religious belief. In the conversation between Mr. Police and him, it was mentioned that Damien, as a psychological counselor, would provide psychological counseling for the priests. It was psychological counseling rather than prayer of repentance, but he was actually a preaching priest. So he mentioned that he lacked faith and did not want to be a priest anymore. In addition, the psychiatrist actually earns more money than the priest. His colleagues, family members and the police have mentioned that Father Damien also needs money because of his mother's illness. This is also one of the reasons for his lack of faith. Father Damien's biggest weakness is his mother's death, which was discovered a few days after his mother's death. He was not by her side. The father felt that he had given up on her mother, and the death was his fault. There are two metaphors in this passage, one is the dream after the mother's death, there is a coin necklace in the dream, the evil dog and the mother's cry for help and she walked down the stairs. The second is the desecrated idol in the church.
All three paragraphs provide a lot of information, themes, and metaphors, so they are actually very important, but because there are too many details and no climax, it seems too long and unfocused, and the worst part is that there is basically no connection after the foreshadowing. The first paragraph does not develop directly, the second paragraph skips to Regan being possessed, and the third paragraph briefly mentions the death of Father Damien's mother, without showing too much of his lack of belief.
Then began to possess the positive film, and the positive film began to be a contradiction between science and religion. After Regan's possession, the mother's first reaction was to see a doctor. The doctor said that the problem of the brain was not serious. The mother asked whether she needed a psychiatrist, but the attending doctor rejected it (I feel that the mainstream of science represented by the doctor is still marginalized psychology, but psychological Learning in religion must be regarded as science 2333333 is a bit of a mouthful). The first confrontation between the devil and science made Regan's situation worse, and then the display of scientific power was strengthened. Various instruments were tested, the pain of testing, and the mother's heartache and worry all showed the horror that science cannot detect and touch, and the horror of human ignorance. Until the last 88 doctor consultations were helpless, they suggested that my mother go to the witch doctor for exorcism. The funny thing is that the doctor's explanation is a psychological explanation, not a religious explanation. The doctors concluded that it was a split personality that produced the illusion of possession. Therefore, the witch doctor's exorcism ritual can psychologically imply that the patient has exorcised the demon to counteract the hallucination, which is a very scientific explanation. Science has been defeated by the devil, and it has too little real scope.
Father Damien went online and began to test whether Regan was really possessed, because the real exorcism ceremony needs to be applied for and it is necessary to judge whether it is really possessed instead of mental illness. This is probably the reason why the church sent Father Damien to study psychology. . In fact, it is ironic here. Father Damien said that most of the priests currently serving are not familiar with exorcism, which means that the church has restrictions on this kind of ceremony. I guess either the church thinks that this kind of ceremony is very harmful to priests, so it is restricted. Where does the harm come from? The damage caused by the devil, but the priests all have faith, which indirectly means that God does not protect believers. This is also explained in the confession scene in the church. The believers say that they do not need the protection of God. Believing in God is just repenting in the world. of faults and sins, heaven after death really begins to mean this. Either the church does not believe in the existence of demons, so it restricts the exorcism ritual. For example, when Father Damien was sent to study psychology, he felt that the church also felt that possession was a psychological disease and not materialized. The irony here is the contradiction of believing that there is a god and not believing that there is a devil. During the test, Father Damien deceived the devil that the tap water was holy water, and the devil also tricked the priest that tap water could burn himself, but the devil mentioned the death of the priest's mother and Regan's call for help, which still convinced the priest that the devil was possessed. Father Damien needs to cooperate with Father Merrin to complete the ceremony. The process of the ceremony is relatively simple, it is simply fighting for faith, but Merrin lacks mental strength, Father Damien lacks faith, and is bewitched by the devil, the ceremony fails, and finally Father Damien lost the coins in the fight and cannot ward off evil spirits, the devil is attached to Father Damien. , the priest committed suicide to prevent this matter and save Regan's life. This ending is not a happy ending, because in the end it was not because of the exorcism ceremony, but the priest committed suicide, indicating that God really did not protect them, and suicide is a sin in Christianity, so the theme is evil against evil.
-------------------------------------
Other details, why is the devil possessed → because it is to defile the holiness in the eyes of God, in what way? Behaving rudely, swearing, incontinence in public, hurting the lower body with the holy object of the cross. Did the devil finally die? I guess no, because in the end, the priest's colleagues asked the mother and daughter to keep the coin necklace, indicating that the devil is still there but just disappeared, and the coin necklace is kept to ward off evil spirits. The crucifix at the head of the bed was supposed to have been given to her by Regan's mother's boyfriend when she was awake, only to be found by the devil to kill her boyfriend.
Overall it's a good film, with lots of details and a very real atmosphere. The mother and daughter's work is everyday happiness for ordinary people, but after being possessed, the peace is broken. Without happiness, there is only pain and the fear of not knowing the reasons for these weird things. . It is the saddest thing that something good is broken to pieces. When taking shots in the house after being possessed, sometimes you don’t need to follow the camera or cut the shot, but use the third-person freeze-frame shot to create the meaning that someone is watching you secretly. The scenes of the climax are usually frozen and short-lived, and people can't get back to their senses after being frightened. There are also the usual methods of horror films to kill the sound effects engineer series, but this film focuses on the same atmosphere as The Shining, and the sound effects are not as strong as Wen Ziren's works.
View more about The Exorcist reviews
