STIGMATA

By: Steve Biodrowski
Date: Tuesday, February 29, 2000

The other day, after seeing this movie, I decided, in the spirit of adventure, to put my life at risk. I went to the local bookstore, browsed through the Religious section, and picked up a copy of THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. THOMAS. Curiously, no team of black-cassocked Vatican assassins appeared in the aisle intent on terminating me before I could decide whether or not to buy the book. Profoundly disappointed, I returned the volume to its shelf and shook my head in dismay at the presumption of ignorance made by the people behind STIGMATA, the 1999 MGM release.

The film's convoluted storyline follows a priest (Gabriel Byrne) who investigates and disproves supposed miracles around the globe. He's called in on the case of a hairdresser (Patricia Arquette) who is showing signs of stigmata (spontaneous wounds that mimic those of Jesus on the cross). After much exposition and many MTV-style gore scenes, it turns out that Arquette's character is possessed not by a demon but by a priest who was translating an apocryphal gospel. During his life, the priest was doing his work in secret, because the gospel contradicted some tenets of Catholic faith. Now that even death has not stopped him in his work, Byrne's boss (played by Jonathan Pryce) is more than willing to resort to an exorcism and even murder to stop Arquette before she can act as the medium that will allow these revelations to be made public.

It says something about today's Hollywood that it would be willing to take on subject matter like this without having any idea what they're talking about. The supposedly suppressed gospel is clearly based on the Gospel of St. Thomas, and as my little journey to the book store proves, it's readily available for anyone to purchase at any reasonably stocked book store, and you can do it at no personal risk of being assassinated by fanatical Catholic clergymen. The Church may not accept this Gospel as authentic, but the cat's out of the bag, and no one's life is being threatened.

Ignoring the plot absurdities for a moment, does the film even work as a numbskull horror-thriller? Not really. The film gets off to a good start, with beautiful photography and spooky portents setting us up for the supernatural-religious story to follow. Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent that the directorial style pf Rupert Wainwright is based not on any understanding of the material but on squeezing the maximum lowest-common-denominator impact out of the special effects scenes. Arquette is continually asked to suffer the torments of her affliction, but the camera angles, lighting, and cutting are never geared toward making us identify with and sympathize for her pain. Instead, the sequences are presented with a sort of 'aint-it-cool' gusto that might make the video a hit with sado-masochists who can now pause, freeze-frame, and rewind to their hearts content. Never for even the briefest flash of a moment does the film convey any sense of spiritual torment, of a soul suffering unfairly but eventually achieving an epiphany of understanding.


Arquette, Byrne, and Pryce are all talented people, but they have done better work elsewhere. For all its faults, the screenplay has interesting ideas that occasionally show through the high-tech visual pyrotechnics, leaving one wondering about what the original draft might have been like, before rewrites pulled it down to the level of a bad EXORCIST wannabe. If you want to see demonic possession portrayed with true horrific impact, you'd be much better of renting the DVD of that classic. Or, if you want to see a satirical skewering of Catholicism, try DOGMA. As for STIGMATA, rent this only if your tastes run towards seeing a helpless woman heaving with spasms as her body is lacerated by invisible forces. Or better yet: don't rent this video; seek help instead.

STIMGATA. An MGM Release, August 1999 (video: 2/29/2000). Directed by Rupert Wainwright. Written by Tom Lazarus and Rick Ramage. Rated R. Running time: 102 mins. Starring: Patricia Arquette, Gabriel Byrne, Jonathan Pryce.

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