By
now, the world has witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust, the Ukrainian
Holodomor, the Armenian Genocide, the Cultural Revolution, the Rwandan Genocide,
9/11, and the Castro Brothers’ oppression of Cuba. The notion that evil exists
in our world hardly seems debatable anymore. If only we could exorcise it like
a satanic force. Against this backdrop, perhaps it is not so surprising reports
of demonic possession have spiked dramatically. Federica Di Giacomo follows one
of Italy’s busiest exorcists in Deliver
Us (trailer
here),
which screens during Open Roads: New Italian Cinema 2017.
People
travel from throughout the country seeking salvation from Father Cataldo
Migliazzo. As Twenty-First Century materialists, we assume these are misguided
souls suffering from schizophrenia, manic depression, and perhaps Tourette
Syndrome. However, it must be admitted their fits of demonic convulsions are
highly unsettling. On the other hand, the exorcisms he performs over the phone sound
brazenly bogus.
We
quickly learn Father Cataldo is the most hawkish priest of the Palermo diocese
when it comes to possession. Some of his colleagues hold slightly more nuanced
possessions. However, the practice of Church-sponsored exorcisms is reportedly booming
throughout Western Europe and America.
Throughout
Deliver, Di Giacomo maintains a
silent fly-on-the-wall perspective, which is the worst possible approach for a
film like this. If ever documentary subjects merited the question: “dude, WTF?”
it would be Father Cataldo and his afflicted flock. Frustratingly, nobody is
called to explain themselves or provide any further context. We really want to
hear what they have to say about the things we see, but Di Giacomo never breaks
format.
