The Exorcist: Believer May Have Just Committed Really Awesome Blasphemy
This post contains spoilers for "The Exorcist: Believer."
50 years ago, the incomparable William Friedkin's adaptation of William Peter Blatty's "The Exorcist" caused a media frenzy. Protests took place outside theaters, people were reported to be throwing up and passing out in their seats, and stories of the film's "cursed set" only added to the film's allure. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office of Film and Broadcasting (USCCB-OFB) officially and publicly condemned the film as being unsuitable for a wide audience, and Warner Bros. Studios used stories of religious outrage to keep the media machine running. However, according to Amy Chambers' "Somewhere Between Science and Superstition: Religious Outrage, Horrific Science, and 'The Exorcist' (1973)," in reality, "reviews produced for the office by priests and lay Catholics and correspondence between the Vatican and the USCCB-OFB show that the church at least notionally interpreted it as a positive response to the power of faith."
The reality is that the church, officially, had a far more nuanced approach to the film. That didn't stop zealots and weirdos from showing up with megaphones outside multiplexes, though, and so the reports of Catholic outrage became the legendary truth. Friedkin stood by his belief until his passing that "The Exorcist" is a Christian film. And he's right. His approach to "The Exorcist" was collaborative – inviting both religious communities and medical professionals to weigh in on how they would treat Regan MacNeil if she were under their care. The film feels so believable because the story is rooted in real-life practices, and not at all blasphemous.
This is to say, David Gordon Green's "The Exorcist: Believer" might be far more upsetting to the Catholic Church ... because the film indicates that part of God's plan was for a would-be nun to have an abortion. Let me explain.
The Lord works in mysterious ways
In "The Exorcist: Believer," Ann Dowd plays a nurse (also named Ann) who lives next door to a single father named Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.) and his daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett). Angela and her friend Katherine (Olivia Marcum) go missing for three days, and Ann is the nurse on staff at the hospital when the girls are brought in for examination. She's also the first person to suspect that there's something much bigger than a trauma response happening after Angela taunts her about a dead child and calls her "Sister Mary Xavier."
Ann then approaches Victor about what happened and confesses to him that before she became a nurse, she was about to become a nun. She had even already chosen her new name, Sister Mary Xavier. However, she broke her vow shortly before taking the veil, admitting to Victor that she had an abortion. No one in her life knew that she had the abortion, nor did anyone know about her chosen name. But Angela did, a sign that an otherworldly presence was inhabiting her.
An almost-nun having an abortion isn't blasphemous on its face, even though it would likely piss off a lot of Catholics. No, the blasphemy comes later in the film when Ann decides to lead the exorcism, viewing it as her true calling from God. She delivers a powerful speech where she declares that her leaving the convent and becoming a nurse (as well as moving into the house in her neighborhood) was part of God's plan for her, to put her close to the family to help them in their time of need. This is what she was meant to do — help save Angela.
So, by that logic, God's plan was for Ann to have an abortion. HAHAHA AWESOME.
Our God is an awesome God
I've never been a religious person, save for a couple of years in high school when I was boinking someone in a worship band and gave God the ol' college try. But after the youth group leader found out I had an abortion a few years prior, I was completely ostracized by the congregation and leadership. I've been an abortion clinic escort, I've since had another abortion myself, and I've even been harassed for writing about the growing trend of abortion road trip movies. At this point, I could walk into a church with an inverted cross carved into my face and people would want to "save me." But if they heard I had an abortion? I'd be lucky if they didn't threaten to have me stoned in the town square.
Intentional or not, "The Exorcist: Believer" is committing blasphemy in the most awesome way possible. Whenever weirdos whine about how "that aborted baby could have cured cancer" or whatever fantasy nonsense they like to project onto a clump of cells, it's weird to me that the thought never crosses their mind that the pregnant person could also be the person who cures cancer but won't get the chance if they're forced to raise a child they aren't ready to have. I don't believe in God, but if I did, I like to think that she'd be thrilled with this new take on her powers.
God (allegedly) asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac and didn't judge him when he was ready to do it, gifting him a sacrificial ram instead for his dedication. This same God would be totally cool with an almost-nun having an abortion in order to exorcise demons from innocent girls, but most people aren't ready for that conversation.
Thankfully, "The Exorcist: Believer" is.