A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Stigmata

Date Viewed: 9/13/99

Details:

Patricia Arquette

Gabriel Byrne

Jonathon Pryce

Screenplay: Tom Lazarus & Rick Ramage

Director: Rupert Wainwright

Score: +

The Review: The trailers do not position this movie accurately; they would have you believe this is some version of The Exorcist, updated. Grossly misleading, this makes you expect some genre of horror film, instead of the intriguing and intense drama that it really is: a combination of "hidden documents," the history of Christianity and mysticism, and no small measure of possible heresy. It is not essential to be Catholic, or even Christian, to appreciate Stigmata, but it doesn't hurt. In an attempt to lend credibility to the movie and its topic, MGM has mounted on the official web site a number of supporting links to related religious material and definitions.

Three threads run through Stigmata. First -- the travels and investigations of a scientist/priest (Byrne) who is one of the Vatican elite whose responsibility is to investigate and document purported miracles. The bibliographer in me has attempted to verify the existence and functions of commissions associated with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints or with the original Congregation of Rights, but the jury is still out; needless to say, the screenplay is convincing. Second -- the discovery, translation and mysterious loss of at least one first- century gospel scroll; we see events associated with this underneath the opening credits but cannot integrate it until later. And third and most obvious -- the circumstances surrounding a young hairdresser (Arquette) in Pittsburgh who begins exhibiting the stigmata of the crucifixion of Christ. Since, according to the church, this behavior is seen extremely rarely and only with extremely devout believers -- and Arquette's character both happens to be an avowed atheist and is portrayed in no uncertain terms as a "sinner" -- there is clearly something wrong here. Tracking down this conundrum, and merging the threads, constitutes the plot.

Byrne is engaging in his role as a conflicted priest -- on the one hand, using his investigative skills as a scientist and then encountering phenomena that cannot easily be debunked; on the other hand, dealing with a contrary attraction to the young woman enmeshed in the phenomenon; but the gripping hand is his overpowering concern with her protection and survival as an individual. He is clearly the focal point as the audience's point of view, and many things are explained to him or by him solely for this purpose; but this mode of privileged knowledge seems a bit artificial on occasion. Arquette is less attractive as a character, but that seems intentional; the whole point is to set up and underline both her lack of uniqueness and her secular nature. As the stigmata appear, her confusion and dismay is palpable and convincing.

This is not a movie that will attract a wide appeal, but I liked it. And the soundtrack is pretty good.

A minor quibble. Yes, the Gnostic texts of the Nag Hammadi library really do exist -- they were discovered in Egypt in 1945 -- as does the Gospel of Thomas. However, these texts were in Coptic (from the Greek, as it happens) and not Aramaic (a bit of poetic license, perhaps?). Nevertheless, their content and interpretation are indeed strongly contested by the Vatican.

Although an imperfect similarity, there are curious echoes of Wilton Barnhardt's 1993 novel Gospel, which I would recommend somewhat more highly than this movie.

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