The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a film based loosely on the real-world events surrounding the death of Anneliese Michel, a German woman born in 1952. While this version of events is heavily watered-down from the true occurrences, it shares a powerful and moving theme to help share with the world that the possibility is there. What this possibility is, is left to the audience; the characters within the movie itself hardly know what to believe at the end. Demons, Devils, and God are all brought to case in this movie, a courtroom horror film set not to scare, but to believe.
The movie itself opens up after the death of Emily Rose, on a farmstead much like any small farm in countrysides across the continent. However, this is not the setting, or even a major point of the film; our view is set on the courtroom, where Father Richard Moore is set to be tried for the neglectful homicide of Emily Rose.
Erin Bruner, an up and coming junior partner, having just released a man charged with serial murders from prison, is brought to represent the priest against a prosecutor whose own faith and convictions lead him to believe that Emily was murdered. His case involves medical testimony and the belief that Emily simply suffered from epilepsy, which is later revealed to have brought about psychosis.
As the movie progresses, strange and unexplainable events occur to Erin herself; she wakes up in the middle of the night, alarm clock stopped at 3:00 A.M.
Perhaps the strangest of these is during the trial itself, after a particularly fierce failure by the defense to puncture the prosecution's case, Erin finds a gold locket laid in the snow. It had seemingly been there for hours, and was almost buried under the snow. It bore the initials E.C.B.; her middle name is Christine.
At this point, she attempts to validate the possession of Emily, whether by demons or some other disembodied spirit, through the priest's own testimony, as well as that of a psychiatrist. Most notable is her use of an anthropologist, Sadir Adani, who believes that possession is simply a basic human experience, proven scientifically by the millions who experience it every year world-wide. Unfortunately, after the accidental death of the psychiatrist, Erin's case falters, and ultimately fails; Father Moore is convicted, but is given a sentence of time served.
The leading roles in this film are filled by Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Campbell Scott, and Jennifer Carpenter; Erin Bruner, Father Moore, Ethan Thomas, and Emily Rose successively. Each character plays a pivotal role throughout the film, and their own journey, particularly that of Erin Bruner, are crucial to the development of the plot.
The actors portray their given characters in masterful form, developing the belief, or disbelief in the supernatural. The musical score, while not overtly impressive, gives an eerie, almost realistic viewpoint from which the audience can step into the film, and follow the trial as if they were sitting in the courtroom themselves, hearing the events told through musical interpretation.
While synthesized, the opening sequence, inter laden with the screams and frightful noises from the exorcism itself, gives off the mood necessary for the trial scenes to continue unabashed. Scenes involving the prepossessed Emily are scored with what can be described as angelic choirs, while those involving demonic possession or simply apparitions of malicious forces are suspenseful, if not altogether strange.
However, this is not meant to confuse, or excite the audience in an overt way. The main focus of the story, while masked by trial procedure and flashback sequences, is the journey of discovery made by Erin Bruner. The reality we are given is hers; how she perceives the trial, and the events that unfolded beforehand, as well as those that unfold up until the verdict is given.
Her ideals, as placed by Father Moore, make her an agnostic, with the quote “If you aren't sure, then you are one.” She's faced with a hard-nosed protestant prosecutor, who worries more about making sure lawbreakers are behind bars, than about the forgiveness and compassion taught by his own religion.
This is beyond the expert witnesses he puts forth which seem more interested in their own agenda and medicating patients for the sake of medicating patients than finding out what's truly wrong with them. While it's for certain that Ethan, the prosecutor, isn't going to change his mind about belief, nor will Father Moore lose his convictions of faith, it quickly becomes clear that Erin is the target of spiritual change. Her beliefs can go either way, due to the unhappiness and loneliness she's come across in her ambitious drive to the top of the food chain.
