I Year B.A./B.B.A., LL.

B  – Semester-I (2020)

2nd - Internal Assessment

Indian Legal System,
Legal Methods & Legal Research

NAME: Mokshha Sharma
DIVISION: C
PRN: 20010126253
COURSE: BBA LL.B. (H)
BATCH: 2020-2025
 Movie Review: THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE
Directed by - Scott Derickson

I. Identification and Explanation of Theme: The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) is

loosely based on the true encounters of a German girl named Anneliese Michel who
has been portrayed as Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter), a 19 year old Catholic
College girl who believed she was possessed by 6 demons namely Lucifer, Cane,
Judas, Nero, Belial and Legion. Plagued and tormented by horrific visions of friends
and strangers turning into demonic snarls while at university, Emily resorts to
Exorcism performed by Father Richard Moore (Tom Wilkinson) her parish priest,
only to die a horrible death. The movie is told through flashbacks from the courtroom
where Father Moore finds himself charged with negligent homicide since he had
suggested Emily interrupt the use of epilepsy medications. In order to avoid a
scandal, the Archdiocese hires an atheist lawyer Erin Bruner (Laura Linney) to
defend the church against the religious prosecutor Ethan Thomas (Campbell Scott).
The church pressed Moore to get a plea bargain and do 6 years of a 12 year sentence.
However, he refuses saying, “I don’t care about my reputation and I am not afraid of
jail. All I care about is telling Emily Rose’s story”.

II. Legal Principles and Concepts Involved: In 2 hours of storytelling, the movie
draws its audience into the reality of possession, moves them emotionally but also
challenges them to think about issues such as why would devils possess a human
being and what does this mean, how can people cope, what is the response of the
church, who are exorcists and what authority do they have, what are the rituals and
are they successful, lastly what impact does possession and exorcism have on non
believers and on a sceptical world. However, it is only of secondary importance
whether or not there is such a thing as demonic possession, what matters is whether
private citizens have a right to choose alternative forms of treatment for psychological
maladies, especially when standard treatment proves to be inefficient. The core of this
religious and psychological drama is the court case where Father Moore is tried for
 negligent homicide. The prosecution developed the argument that Emily Rose had a
serious medical condition, was schizophrenic and experienced episodes of psychotic
epilepsy that demanded immediate medical treatment. They also argued that the
victim’s condition rendered her physically and psychologically incapable of carrying
for herself, whose care was wholly entrusted with the defendant Father Moore who
betrayed his responsibility by persuading her to abandon her medical treatment in
favour of a ritual exorcism to rid her of demonic forces. They further emphasized on
proving how the defendant’s curse of action directly resulted in the victim’s death.
On the flip side, the defence lawyer initially tries her best to counter aforementioned
arguments but later decides that the better defence is to accept that exorcism was a
valid way of dealing with Emily’s condition and that Father Moore made the correct
decision to go through with the ritual. The defence refutes the prosecutions’ statement
of Emily being psychotic and epileptic and in turn asserts that her condition in fact
was of demonic possession. They argued that despite Father Moore’s greatest efforts
and sincere love for Emily, there was absolutely nothing he could have done to
prevent the death of his dearest Emily Rose. The defence also summoned Dr. Sadira
Adani (Shohreh Aghdashloo) an expert in anthropology and psychiatry to testify
about various cultures’ beliefs about spiritual possession. She suggests that Emily was
a hypersensitive who was uniquely susceptible to invasion by an entity alien to her.
However, the prosecutor objected and the testimony was dismissed on grounds of
pseudoscience.

III. Realism and Relevance of Theme:

 Realism in Legal Proceedings – Beginning from the very first court scene, the
prosecutions opening statement is realistic to an extent which is rarely
depicted in movies. The notes referred to and the lecturn used by the
prosecutor, specifically set for the arguments to the jury shooting down the
idea that lawyers are supposed to talk extemporaneously, are small detailed
examples of the aforesaid. Further, the tone of the argument and the display of
powerful visuals of the victim’s condition was a commendable persuasive way
of making an opening statement. In a later scene when Dr. Mueller (Kenneth
 Welsh) was called in as an expert witness, no extensive questioning of his
experience and education was done in order to establish credibility which
stands contrary to reality in terms of law. The defence’s expert witness was
also an improper one as it was more prejudicial than probative and more likely
to confuse the jury. Moreover, the defence’s argument of Emily being
demonically possessed is irrelevant and has no place in real courts, rather the
attorney would be asked to drop the respective argument. Also, a lot of
hearsay evidence was present by both sides in the course of proceedings
which included so called statements given by Emily Rose, audio recording of
the exorcism and Emily’s allegedly handwritten letter. In the reel world
several loopholes can be identified in the arguments advanced by the defence
attorney when compared to terms of advocacy in the real world.
 Realism of Facts – The fictionalized film version begins with the death of a 19
year old Emily Rose and fuses on the subsequent court case faulting her
exorcist, Father Moore for criminal negligence. Although the heavy handed
special effects, with moving furniture and self removing clothes biases us to
believe in a supernatural explanation from the beginning. The case of real
world Emily Rose, Anneliese Michel is intriguing precisely because it is
neither an obviously true nor an obviously false case of possession. While it
has many elements of typical possession cases, there is also evidence of pre-
existing neurological disorder. Psychiatrists testifying against Anneliese’s
parents and priests suggested that Ann had been a victim of “Doctrinaire
Induction” and that her religious upbringing made her believe that she was
possessed by 6 demons. The court proceedings in the movie admitted fictional
evidence borrowed from other possession cases to keep the viewers hooked to
their seat. In the actual case the evidence is somewhat less dramatic.

IV. Criticism and Appraisal: The movie falls under the genre of a horror thriller but
never really takes off riveting fascination one expects in the opening scenes. One can
see all of the standard stuff that is expected from court room drama including
surprising revelations, nostalgic testimonies, and a stirring closing argument from the
defence attorney, but what one might not find are terrific horror scenes which is an
essential to the genre. In comparison with ‘The Exorcist’, ‘The Exorcism Of Emily
Rose’ is a model of how to make more with less. It is a light supernatural thriller with
traditional elements of horror like the strange voices ant utterances. The eeriness is
felt through loud and piercing cries and sound engineering. However, the true life
trial was simply medicine versus religion but a lot of embellishment is occurred to
make screenplay appealing to a mainstream audience.
What is fascinating about The Exorcism Of Emily Rose is that it asks a secular
institution, to decide a question that hinges on matters the court cannot have an
opinion on. The defence and the prosecution mount strong arguments and call
persuasive witnesses, but at the end it all comes down to the personal beliefs of the
jury. The film is respectful towards the church even when criticisms were voiced. It
indicates that facts must be presented but they are always open to interpretation. In
my personal opinion, after reviewing both the reel and real version of Emily Rose,
she had psychotic epileptic disorder but it could have been successfully treated by the
psychosomatic effect of exorcism if the drugs had not blocked the process. Overall,
there is no claim that The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a cinematic masterpiece. Instead
it is a well written and well crafted film that addresses religious and church questions
in a secular world.