stigmata (Stigmata (DVD))

Member Name: lady_natalie

Product:	Stigmata (DVD)
Date:	13/09/09 (47 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: interesting in parts

Disadvantages: not ver believable acting, weak plot

Released in 1999, Stigmata stars Patricia Arquette as a young woman who receives stigmata, and Gabriel Byrne as a priest who is investigating this claim.

Father Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne) is a scientist as well as a priest and he works for the Vatican and is sent all over the world to investigate claims of miracles. He is originally sent to investigate a statue of Christ that appears to be crying tears of blood. When he can't disprove this supposed miracle he is sent to America to see Frankie (Patricia Arquette) who another priest as seen to be displaying signs of having received stigmata. Before meeting the priests Frankie, who isn't at all religious, has never heard of stigmata. She wakes up to find herself in hospital after she's been rushed there for having holes drives through her wrists to the other side, which didn't hit a vein. Father Andrew explains to her that it appears she has received stigmata, the 5 wounds that Christ received when he was crucified. The film progresses as she gets the other wounds, whip lashes on her back, the marks from his crown of thorns, holes through her feet, and the last one would be a spear through her side. Devote Catholics have been said to receive these wounds, but as Frankie is a self confessed atheist it seems impossible that these wounds have anything to do with religion.

I watched this film when it came out and I thought it was quite chilling, and loved how religion and the bible tied into the story. But upon watching it again the story isn't as strong as I remember. It's quite slow moving, focusing on Frankie receiving the various wounds as her relationship with father Andrew develops. Although he dismisses Frankie's wounds because she's atheist, for some reason he stays with her and carries on his investigations. Frankie also speaks in tongues, and writes an unknown language on the wall, which turns out to be Aramaic, the language of Christ. The film hints at the book of the bible which Christ wrote, which details his life through his own words, and it seems that Frankie is becoming a vessel through which this is being told. It is quite clever how Frankie's stigmata is explained in the end, and I like the conspiracy theories to do with the Catholic church are involved in the plot. It does make me wonder whether they do try to disprove miracles, and what they do try to cover up. But the film on a whole falls a bit flat to me. I don't think the acting is terribly believable, and the relationship between Frankie and Father Andrew certainly isn't, to be honest I'm not sure why it was included in the film, it seems to have no relevance to the plot. I'm not sure if this film is meant to be scary, but to me it's not at all, and I am generally a total wimp when it comes to any kind of horror film.

I think this film is ok to watch once if you've never seen it, but don't be expecting anything brilliant. To me the best thing about this is the interesting little bits and pieces about the church, how it works, the possibilities of what it does and doesn't do. But then I do think conspiracy theories are interesting, and I'm not a religious person, if I thought differently then this film probably wouldn't have anything in it for me at all.

Summary: a look into the theories of stigmata and the catholic church