Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Rite’

Written by Scott Edwards

​It is difficult to believe that in this day and age that possessions are still taking place. With all of the doctors pointing to symptoms that relate to mental illness, there still might be something to these claims. When pills do not help and there's an unexplained changing of tongues while under the control of something else, the unknown keeps these notions going and they may never go away. As far as exorcisms go, less and less priests are versed in this practice and as evil continues to make its mark on the world, this does not seem to be the best thing for anyone.

Michael Kovak is looking to change something in his life and has chosen to attend seminary school. Since everyone in his family has either been a mortician or a priest, Michael has seen the ups and downs to working with dead bodies and needs the change. In four short years, Michael is at the top of his class in all subjects with the exception of theology, which is concerning for his teacher, Father Matthew. As Michael decides that the priesthood is not for him and writes his resignation to the church, Father Matthew offers the young man a different route. 

With classes taking place in the Vatican on the art of exorcism, Father Matthew believes that this will be the best way for Michael to find his faith. With the course only running for a couple of months, he is sure that the boy will do great, but Michael does not believe that it will help the cause at all. Arriving late to Father Xavier’s first class, Michael is hesitant to join into the conversation since he does not have any faith left to give. When challenging Father Xavier in the classroom to the difference between possession and mental illness, the Father knows that it will take a little more to get Michael to believe that there is a higher power and sends the young man to mirror his old friend that is an expert in the art of exorcisms. 

Arriving at Father Lucas’ home, Michael is shown an exorcism on his first visit. Not being what he expected, Michael is still skeptical about the practice and if the young woman that is being practiced on is actually possessed or not. Seeing that the young man is not buying into the ritual, Father Lucas tries other tactics on the young man, but thinking that it is just a charade, he will still not change his beliefs. But all is about to change after Father Lucas fails to save the young woman and the demon inside of her decides to jump into the old body of the priest. Facing evil directly in the eyes, Michael must believe that there is something more in him to face off against whatever has taken over Father Lucas, if he cannot, then he will be faced with another dead body, along with the prospect of losing his soul to evil.

There is nothing wrong with a good possession movie and after watching several of them, I now know one thing, get the demon to speak its own name. After the demon has given up this information, it is powerless against everyone and can be sent back to the depths of hell. I think that Michael and Father Lucas do a great job in demonstrating this and seeing how quickly Michael has to grow when the spit finally hits the fan, it was great to see. Creating a new relationship with his unorthodox teacher, Michael sees how faith actually works, even if it is by just using a frog to abolish someone’s concerns. Not a bad story and I really liked seeing the growth of the characters, and their interactions for the most part were priceless. Stay Scared.

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