Stigmata (1999)
January 8th 2009 02:27
The Basics
Director: Rupert Wainwright
Writer: Tom Lazarus and Rick Ramage
Starring: Patricia Arquette, Gabriel Byrne, Jonathan Pryce
The Opinion
In the last few years there has been a stream of anti-Catholic works – all of them fictional with that annoying amount of “hey perhaps…” thrown in. It seems that one of the modern world’s favourite past times is to pick on the Catholic Church – however this is not just a symptom of living in the “nought”ies, the Catholics were being picked on in filmmaking back in 1999 with Stigmata. The film would be described as crime fiction meets thriller. The very dashing Gabriel Byrne plays Andrew Kiernan, a priest/ scientist (oh look at the tension already!) who works for the Vatican in order to prove or disprove miracles; Patricia Arquette (most recently is the lead role in the TV show Medium) is awesome in her role as Francis “Frankie” Paige, a self-confessed atheist who begins to exhibit the wound of the stigmata. The film conveniently explains the stigmata as the wounds of Jesus upon his death, nails driven through his hands and feet, a crown of thorns, whiplashes on his back and a spear into his side. Andrew tells Frankie that the most famous stigmatic is St Francis of Assisi – who has the same first name as Frankie. Of course, Andrew and Frankie’s paths cross and Andrew takes on the task of finding out why exactly would Frankie be experiencing these wounds. Andrew’s investigation takes him to a top secret document that has been condemned by the Vatican, which appears to be a gospel written in Jesus’ own words. The document states that “the kingdom of God is inside you and all around you, not in mansions of wood and stone” – so if the Vatican were to recognise it, it would counter the entire institution of the Vatican, the pomp and ceremony of the Catholic Church, the clergy and everything. Jonathan Pryce plays Cardinal Houseman who is effectively Andrew’s boss and is aware of this banned gospel, he attempts to keep it all hushed up, even to the point of attempting to ‘silence’ Frankie if you know what I mean. Nice.
There is this really cool conflict that goes on with the values in this movie. Andrew Kiernan is a priest who is also a scientist – which is a very conflicting thing to comprehend. So throughout this movie the whole science versus religion debate gets a bit of an airing. Frankie originally sees a doctor about her wounds, and they suggest that she has epilepsy and the stigmata are injuries from the seizures but as the film plays out it is evident that what she is experiencing is something that science cannot explain. Frankie and Andrew end up having an odd relationship full of good ol’ sexual that is left a little open-ended in the final scene of the movie and can be interpreted different ways depending on which version of the movie you are watching – oh yeah the movie has two endings.
The movie isn’t all intellectual religious babble. The movie boasts awesome special effects, starting with getting a statue to cry blood, to having Arquette suspended on an invisible crucifix, to filling a room with flames. I guess the only drawback from this movie would be if you are already worn out by the anti-Catholic Dan Brown stuff that has been floating around, or if you are genuinely pro-Vatican
The Verdict
If you are a fan of films that poke holes in the values of the Catholic Church, then this is the film for you. My best friend was forced by his Catholic-as-they-come family to sign a piece of paper when this film was released (while we were in primary school) to say that he would never watch it. Since then at least half of his cousins have come out as gay, renounced their Catholicism, watched this movie and really enjoyed it. I like it because it doesn’t threaten the belief system of the Catholic Church, but it does take a stab at all of the song and dance that goes on with massive institutionalised religion. Also the acting kicks arse. This movie has everything that a religious thriller/ crime fiction should have – a possession, an exorcism, really awesome special effects and a great soundtrack. If you can, get the DVD version of it and watch the one with the original ending first – the cinematic ending was just so people wouldn’t whinge when it was released.
Director: Rupert Wainwright
Writer: Tom Lazarus and Rick Ramage
Starring: Patricia Arquette, Gabriel Byrne, Jonathan Pryce
The Opinion
In the last few years there has been a stream of anti-Catholic works – all of them fictional with that annoying amount of “hey perhaps…” thrown in. It seems that one of the modern world’s favourite past times is to pick on the Catholic Church – however this is not just a symptom of living in the “nought”ies, the Catholics were being picked on in filmmaking back in 1999 with Stigmata. The film would be described as crime fiction meets thriller. The very dashing Gabriel Byrne plays Andrew Kiernan, a priest/ scientist (oh look at the tension already!) who works for the Vatican in order to prove or disprove miracles; Patricia Arquette (most recently is the lead role in the TV show Medium) is awesome in her role as Francis “Frankie” Paige, a self-confessed atheist who begins to exhibit the wound of the stigmata. The film conveniently explains the stigmata as the wounds of Jesus upon his death, nails driven through his hands and feet, a crown of thorns, whiplashes on his back and a spear into his side. Andrew tells Frankie that the most famous stigmatic is St Francis of Assisi – who has the same first name as Frankie. Of course, Andrew and Frankie’s paths cross and Andrew takes on the task of finding out why exactly would Frankie be experiencing these wounds. Andrew’s investigation takes him to a top secret document that has been condemned by the Vatican, which appears to be a gospel written in Jesus’ own words. The document states that “the kingdom of God is inside you and all around you, not in mansions of wood and stone” – so if the Vatican were to recognise it, it would counter the entire institution of the Vatican, the pomp and ceremony of the Catholic Church, the clergy and everything. Jonathan Pryce plays Cardinal Houseman who is effectively Andrew’s boss and is aware of this banned gospel, he attempts to keep it all hushed up, even to the point of attempting to ‘silence’ Frankie if you know what I mean. Nice.
There is this really cool conflict that goes on with the values in this movie. Andrew Kiernan is a priest who is also a scientist – which is a very conflicting thing to comprehend. So throughout this movie the whole science versus religion debate gets a bit of an airing. Frankie originally sees a doctor about her wounds, and they suggest that she has epilepsy and the stigmata are injuries from the seizures but as the film plays out it is evident that what she is experiencing is something that science cannot explain. Frankie and Andrew end up having an odd relationship full of good ol’ sexual that is left a little open-ended in the final scene of the movie and can be interpreted different ways depending on which version of the movie you are watching – oh yeah the movie has two endings.
The movie isn’t all intellectual religious babble. The movie boasts awesome special effects, starting with getting a statue to cry blood, to having Arquette suspended on an invisible crucifix, to filling a room with flames. I guess the only drawback from this movie would be if you are already worn out by the anti-Catholic Dan Brown stuff that has been floating around, or if you are genuinely pro-Vatican
The Verdict
If you are a fan of films that poke holes in the values of the Catholic Church, then this is the film for you. My best friend was forced by his Catholic-as-they-come family to sign a piece of paper when this film was released (while we were in primary school) to say that he would never watch it. Since then at least half of his cousins have come out as gay, renounced their Catholicism, watched this movie and really enjoyed it. I like it because it doesn’t threaten the belief system of the Catholic Church, but it does take a stab at all of the song and dance that goes on with massive institutionalised religion. Also the acting kicks arse. This movie has everything that a religious thriller/ crime fiction should have – a possession, an exorcism, really awesome special effects and a great soundtrack. If you can, get the DVD version of it and watch the one with the original ending first – the cinematic ending was just so people wouldn’t whinge when it was released.
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Comment by Kleonaptra
Kalikapsychosis
Comment by Linh
Celluloid Fun
Very good review!
This sounds interesting and I remember it caused some controversy when it screened around the world.
I've never seen it, but I might give it a whirl sometime soon.
Cheers!