The new horror flick The Pope’s Exorcist plays with the usual notion of such stories: that a satanic boogeyman inhabiting a human body can make that person do terrible things that they cannot be held responsible for. But it also flirts with ascribing that same fantastical cause to real, horrific crimes that real human beings have committed, including within the institution of the Catholic Church. Which is why I recommended, as another film like The Pope’s Exorcist, the 2012 documentary Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, Alex Gibney’s excoriating examination of the entrenched culture of coverup of child sexual abuse by priests that has come to light since the 1980s. You cannot come away from this absolutely damning film without acknowledging that the Catholic Church has been a global pedophile ring since at least the mid 19th century. The Pope’s Exorcist engages in the perverse fantasy that such crimes might be blamed on the Devil. But it’s all too human, and we should never forget that. (Read my 2013 review.)
US: stream on HBO Max (via Prime); rent/buy on Prime and Apple TV
UK: rent/buy on Apple TV
See Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God at Letterboxd for more viewing options.
