Genres

Visitors Review

2012-05-21 04:10:42

your stigmata

This particular movie is one of the more closer modern day films of the church secrets. You don't have to like this movie, but it does approach one of the biggest secret of the church: "What an actual church is". I personally like this movie, it is an intellectual film at heart. I agree that this shouldn't be compared to The Exorcist. That original movie has I think more rawness to it, this movie is slick, stylistic, and extremely methodical. I thought this to have the most disturbing imagery, next to the original hellrasier.

ChrisBagley 2012-05-20 15:14:52

Good idea, bad follow-through

While I'm not sorry I watched this, it was a little disappointing. Themoviewas based on an interesting idea, but it was handled in an amateur way.Anyone with more than a superficial understanding of the Bible would raisean eyebrow at the return of the priest's ghost, and the portrayal of thecardinals at the Vatican, too, seemed a bit less than fair and realistic.I'd like to see this remade for a less commercial audience.

Desson Thomson 2012-05-10 17:53:44

Is there an eighth deadly sin called 'narcissistic direction'?

nextwooden 2012-05-10 10:53:39

Ignore the negative comments

This movie won't win any awards and the acting was absolutely phenomenal,but all together this is a good movie. I enjoyed the film immensely andthought it to be an original idea. Many people are complaining that it hasno originality but I can't think of another movie with Stigmata's in it. Iwill see it again. I was impressed.

Bladerunner• 2012-05-06 20:46:43

A beautiful film, fatally flawed by the erroneous assertions of its story...

Father Kiernan - a researcher of miracles on behalf of the Vatican – isin Brazil conducting an investigation into a bleeding statue in thechurch of a recently deceased priest named Father Alameida who lies instate in the church. A small boy steals the rosary of Father Alameidaand runs to sell it to a woman in a market. This woman then sends therosary to her daughter, Frankie Paige, living in the United States.Patricia Arquette plays Frankie, a free-spirited young woman who has nospecific religious beliefs and is uninterested in spiritual matters.After she receives the rosary, her life begins to unravel as she isattacked by invisible forces, physically traumatizing her body. Thepunctures, cuts and lacerations on her body mimic the "stigmata" – thefive "wounds" of Christ. Eventually Father Kiernan's boss, CardinalDaniel Houseman asks Kiernan to look into what is happening to Frankie.His investigation unravels a dark mystery that involves the Vaticanitself and three priests – one of whom is Father Alameida - who share aunique bond as translators of an ancient document.The movie is beautiful and haunting, but the plot and specific pointsof the story are greatly lacking. The suggested romance between fatherKiernan and Frankie is quite unbelievable, as is the notion that theCatholic church would be frightened that their church might becomeextinct if the document in the film were to be made public. It ispublic, you can read it online at multitudes of sites, and you could dothat when the movie was released in the theaters.The soundtrack music by Corgan and the song Identify (also penned byCorgan) is haunting and compliments the movie perfectly. There was a CDreleased with music from the movie which is quite good. The song"Identify" written by Corgan and sung by Imbruglia is gorgeous. Thereare moments when Imbruglia seems to enjoy the sound of her own voice somuch, she is almost euphoric. Those moments tend to coincide with themost richly sonic cues of the song. Some songs are throwaway, butothers are aptly included on the CD, such as Inertia Creeps by MassiveAttack. If you only bought the CD for the song Identify, and thesoundtrack cues by Corgan, it would be worth the price.For those who watch the film and wonder what all the hubbub is about,here it is in a nutshell... The Gospel of Thomas was found, along withmany other "rejected Christian writings" in Nag Hammadi (Egypt) in1945. Contrary to the fiction of the film, the writings found arenothing new, although finding them so well preserved and moreimportantly *complete* was quite amazing. The works were only availableas fragments, as the Catholic Church basically outlawed them sometimein Middle Ages, and all copies were supposed to have been destroyed.However, BEFORE the Catholics ever burned them up, the early churchfathers rejected the works because they contain heretical quotesattributed to Christ and other fatal inconsistencies. Contrary to whatthe film proposes, the Catholic church had no fear of the Thomas gospelruining the church because it suggested that people didn't needchurches of "wood and stone" to worship God. The early Christians metin caves and personal homes for many, many years before the first"Christian" church was ever built, and no one rejected the idea that abuilding was the "Church of Christ" more than the early Christianleaders. The problem centered solely upon the validity of thedocuments, period.Another fact that is contrary to what the film purports concerns thescholarly opinion of the Gospel of Thomas and other rejected writings.The Gospel of Thomas was NEVER accepted by the early Christians,neither were any of the other documents that were "officially" notcanonized at The Chalcedon Council in 451 A.D. The heretical books thatweren't canonized at The Chalcedon Council had LONG been rejected*unanimously* by the church fathers, over a long course of time. Therejection of the Thomas Gospel was unanimous and continual at everycouncil (including Hippo {393} and Carthage {397}). It is veryimportant to note that during all this time, and all the councils thatrejected the Gospel of Thomas, the Catholic Church — as it is knowntoday — was not yet in existence. So, the Roman Catholic Church hadabsolutely *nothing* to do with the Gospel of Thomas being rejected asthe words of Jesus, or being rejected as a book of the Bible. I mentionthis because at the end of the Stigmata movie, there is text whichasserts that the Roman Catholic Church is alone in it's rejection ofthe Gospel of Thomas, while "scholars the world over consider (it) themost accurate document of Jesus' words". That is BUNK. All you have todo is *read* the Gospel of Thomas to see why the book was rejected. TheGnostic influence is unmistakable; in point of fact it has become acornerstone document for the Gnostic movement. For them it is arevelation, for evangelical Christians it is pantheistic propagandatantamount to blasphemy.The movie and the soundtrack are fun and beautiful, but the assertionthat the Roman Catholic Church is suppressing the Gospel of Thomasbecause it doesn't want people to reject the buildings of the CatholicChurch is absurd. Watch the movie for the great performances of Byrneand Arquette, the great visuals and effects, but be assured that thereis no conspiracy against the Gospel of Thomas, it was rejected long agoby those very qualified to make that decision, some of them had knownor been friends with the actual disciples of Christ. Other "falsewritings" that came earlier than the Gospel of Thomas were actuallyrejected by some of the disciples themselves. It doesn't get any morequalified than that.

2012-05-06 09:40:56

brilliant concept

Wow. Even for being a non-Christian/Catholic, the premise behind 'Stigmata' is riveting. Take a cornerstone philosophic idea on theism and expand it broad enough to cover almost any religion, and you have the concept portrayed in this movie. A must-see for anyone interested in the multiple paths to God.

2012-05-03 19:47:09

It's About Time!

I was very pleased that someone finally produced this sort of movie. It may offend some people to watch it, but the truth behind the film sends a clear message to those that take advantage to the weak minded. The plot was well thought out and kept the viewer interested from begining to end. If you watch this movie, watch the DVD version not some much for the picture quality but for the added features. The alternate ending is worth the extra cost for the DVD and makes the movie more complete.

Christine James 2012-05-03 17:33:13

Style-over-substance!

2012-05-03 02:14:02

one of the best movies i've ever seen!!!

stigmata is a strange movie....u'll love it! it scares when necessary and it tells about an evil possession. good special effects and a fantastic performance make this film GREAT! believe me...u'll get afraid watching it but u have to do that. much better than ''the exorcist''and so i can say it's the top. a very good work that must been remembered forever.. i'd rate it more than 5 stars but i can't and so ......

k3wi 2012-05-02 21:07:52

Powerful images.(minor spoilers)

The story of Stigmata is simple. It's about a girl who starts having woundslike Jesus, I mean on her back, her legs, her arms and on her head. She isa stigmata. A kind of scientific priest is sent by the Vatican to see whatis happening there.I have to say that I was expecting a lot about this movie. When somethinglike that is done and the subject is about religion, I was hoping somethingprovocative, but it wasn't a lot. Religious people do not have to beafraid, there is nothing offensive, but maybe for me or other people aboutthe conclusion.First, the script is good and very interesting. Supernatural forces arealways fun. This one, about stigmata is good. I do not think the movie isa copy of The Exorcist, until when the main character, well played byPatricia Arquette, starts to write on the wall and say "El messenger no esimportante". But she was not a beautiful little perfect girl, so it wasmore interesting to know what will happen to her. We see a kind of contrastbetween religious things and the opposite, in this case, Frankie Page (p.a).The most fantastic thing about the film is the images. They are powerfuland beautiful. The movie itself isn't scary at all but it's very emotional.More specifically, when the main character gets her wounds, in the metro, itis terrible and I was totally shocked. It was cruel and we were worryingabout the character. The images we see during this time are violent andextremely sad.The problem with the film is the end. I am happy because of the end but I'mnot happy because of something special. They compare the main character totwo sculptures. If you have seen the movie you understand. And thiscomparison doesn't apply to the character. The final message of the film isbad. It says that if you are atheist, something bad will happen to you, andthe only way to overcome it, is to become religious. I am an atheist andit's not good to say things like that in a film. Judge by yourself. But Iliked a lot the way they show The Vatican like a government who tries tokeep things secret. Finally, there was good interpretations and there is alittle revelation that concern religion that is interesting but it's adeception for me. I was expecting a lot more of the revelation.If you like interesting movies with beautiful images, go see it. For thosewho are bothered by movies in which religion is shown like a truly realthing and necessary to live, go see SCREAM.

2012-05-01 13:12:31

Suspenseful. Mysterious. An all around great movie.

This movie kept me hooked all the way through. Some people may say it is confusing, but that's because it all comes together in the end. They must not realize it. There is a connection with the crying Mary and Father Alamedia's death. What seems jumbled is wound together to perfection in the end. I had no idea what the cause of her wounds were. It was very surprising, but do you think I'm gonna tell you... heh, I don't think so ;-) Go rent or buy it. It'll be more than worth it.

Mike Perkins 2012-04-30 23:18:33

This movie could put the fear of god into any good atheist.

This is one of those films that will have most any human being thinking longand hard for hours after viewing it. Whether you are a religious person ornot it will make you wonder just a little bit about life. I recommend thateveryone go see this film it is great.

Autumn 2012-04-30 05:42:01

Stigmata, eye candy with a purpose

The film raises some lovely questions about cynics and saints and wherebelief meets them. I was drawn by the MTV/Matrix like music and flashycinematography but stayed because I really got into the struggle... notperfect but a must see.

2012-04-29 19:04:14

Worst theatrically released horror film of 1999.

Gabriel Byrne is a Vatican priest investigating stigmata wounds that appear on an American atheist woman (Patricia Arquette). Potentially good premise is given the ham-fisted, no subtlelty approach, with a script that has no idea what it's trying to say, not to mention also featuring a distinct lack of intelligence. The direction is just as bad, with MTV-style and rapid-cut editing in place of genuine filmmaking. Ironically, this was released the same weekend as Stir of Echoes, the best pure horror film of the year. Watch that movie instead.

Matt 2012-04-27 18:31:35

You missed the point

I do admit this movie really questions catholic morals but thats not whatits about... the film was about showing a diferent a view on catholosismandtherefore shouldnt be viewed by catholics who aren't into that type ofthing. Its odd but for some reason a book all about the universe andsomeonewho knows all about the universe is written only by onlookers andbystanders. The people who made the movie are not saying that it did ordidn't happen but it is possible that these onlookers might have made amistake on how Jesus and God want us to be. All this movie does is try tomake you think deeper about religion, and I love it for that. If your likeme you would really like "Dogma" too ;)

2012-04-27 03:54:27

Not your typical possession

I found this to be a very intense film. The special effects are fantastic, especially the fire that doesn't consume. The reference to the Gospels of St. Thomas, found in 1949, bases it enough in reality for me. If you're a Christian already, this movie may make you re-think how you worship. If you're not, you may re-think your lack of faith. Oh, and Gabriel Byrne's acting brilliant as usual.

jasper 2012-04-26 09:29:51

Surprised

I saw this film in a sneak preview last night, and although I was secretlyhoping to see Gladiator MI:2 or Gone in 60 seconds, I was pleasantlysurprised by Stigmata. Especially because the fake horror Scream 3 didn'tmanage to impress me recently. The film has plenty of scares and (thank God)laughs, the performances are decent and the direction was surprisingly welldone ....................................8

ivana 2012-04-26 02:04:06

a very cool movie

I dont go church and I dont belive in God but I belive that there issomething greater then me and that that force is somewhat effecting my life.But if there is God I think that he is all around us.And that is one of the reasons why I like this movie.I think that Patricia Arquette does an excellent job in playing a womanwithout belife.I also like how the picture is dark its like they did something with thefilm ,I think that they used the same technique as they did in a moviePayback.Go see this movie because its gonna change your thinking about God , even ifyou are beliver or not.

2012-04-24 06:29:24

Watch this with an open mind and take it all in

When I first saw the commercials back when Stigmata was released, I cringed at the thought of a "Next Exorcist". I avoided the film up until TBS finally broadcasted it earlier this year, and I was amazed by it.If you go into the movie believing it's the "Next Exorcist" plot-wise, you will be horribly disappointed. The only ties between the two movies are the use and discussion of religion, religious beliefs, and figures, and possession itself. The experiences of both Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette) and the Exorcist's leading character, Reagan (Linda Blair) are drastically different. Whereas Reagan was possessed by a demonic spirit for cruel reasons of it's own, Frankie experiences an extremely different sort of possession. Frankie became possessed by the spirit of a recently deceased priest, Paolo Alameida. Father Alameida, along with two other priests, had been working together to translate a document found near the site of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Jerusalem. The document is entirely in Aramaic - the language believed to be used during the time of Jesus. The three priests begin to believe that the words in this document are actually words spoken by the living Jesus Christ at the time of his last supper, telling his Disciples how to continue his church after his crucifixion. Once word began to spread in the Catholic church about the gospel (and how damaging it's content would be to the church itself), the three priests were discommunicated and exiled, with Father Alameida relocating to Bel Quinto, Brazil, where he would head a church, and eventually commit suicide before the translation was finished.After Frankie's mother (on vacation in Brazil at the time), sends her a rosary (that was actually stolen from the body of Father Alameida), Frankie begins experiencing wounds similar to those of Christ at the time of his crucifixion. After a priest witnesses Frankie receiving the wounds of the whip across her back in a subway, Father Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne) is sent to investigate the possible appearance of the stigmata, the wounds of Christ.As Andrew's time with Frankie grows, she continues receiving more and more wounds, and finds herself speaking and writing in languages she does not understand - Italian...and Aramaic. Andrew actively works to bring the meanings of the words Frankie is speaking and writing to light, thus strengthening the tension between Andrew and the Catholic church, most notably Cardinal Houseman (Jonathan Pryce), who originally exiled the three priests working on the translation. The movie shows the negative side of what happens when churches become dictatorships. As the meanings of the words spoken and written by Frankie, as well as the reasons behind (as well as who is responsible for) her possession become clearer to Andrew, the Catholic church tries harder and harder to silence Frankie and to continue making people believe that the church is continuing the faith as Christ wanted, regardless of whether or not a simple exorcism is done to cast out the spirit of Father Alameida to keep him from using Frankie to finish the translation...or by silencing Frankie herself.The movie is a chilling representation of fanaticism and explores hidden aspects of religion and of possession, separating it from the Exorcist and the like. Watch the film with an open mind and open eyes and enjoy what you find hidden below the surface.

2012-04-23 19:20:45

Rent it with no specific expectation...wonderful movie!

I have to say I really enjoyed this movie. I love movies that move me...emotionally and intellectually. I did not buy this movie with any particular expectation in mind i.e. horror. Instead I just popped it in and watched it and took it in for what it was presenting. I think the people that are disappointed with the movie were labeling it based on other movies. That or they did not want to think about the issues the movie brought up. I don't beleive art has to fit into a specific category to be good. I disagree that the movie is in "identity crisis", rather it created an identity all it's own. Would love for more movie makers to take these kinds of chances!