Year of the Rite

In an American movie scene dominated by action and computer rendered special effects, The Rite offers a simple artistic quality which has been lacking as of late. Anthony Hopkins performs magnificently along costars Colin O’Donoghue and Ciarán Hinds. Anthony Hopkins portrays a Jesuit exorcist who attempts to alleviate the skepticism of a seminary student Michael Kovak, played by Colin O’Donoghue.

The Rite begins as Colin O’Donoghue, the son of a funeral director, enters the seminary only to question his faith in his final year. After O’Donoghue performs the last rites for a victim of a car accident, the director of the seminary sends O’Donoghue to Rome in an effort to reaffirm his faith. In Rome, O’Donoghue takes an exorcism class where he meets Father Xavier, played by Ciarán Hinds. Hinds immediately identify his skepticism and send him to a Jesuit exorcist, Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins performs an exorcism in the presence of O’Donoghue but O’Donoghue attributes the girls’ symptoms for a mental disorder and is unconvinced. However, the death of the girl leads to Hopkins to doubt himself and as a result becomes possessed by the same entity that afflicted the girl. O’Donoghue must overcome his skepticism and perform the exorcism of Hopkins himself.

The Rite is a rather slow paced film but what it lacks in paced is made up in simple artistic quality and symbolism. The bull that confronts O’Donoghue represents the Golden Calf which Moses caught the Hebrews worshiping at Mount Sinai. However, the bull can be confusing to people who do not know this part of religious history. The Rite uses lighting and locations in place of computer animation to set the stage for the relationship between Anthony Hopkins and Colin O’Donoghue to dominate the film.

The Rite does not do much in the way of horror, as is shown by the lack of gore which most horror movies of today have, the film itself is based off true events. The Rite is worth the time to watch as it makes its bid for the movie of 2011.


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