The Pope's Exorcist is a 2023 Religious Horror / Conspiracy Thriller film directed by Julius Avery (Overlord (2018), Samaritan) loosely based on the memoirs of Vatican exorcist Gabriele Amorth. It stars Russell Crowe as Amorth, Daniel Zovatto, Alex Essoe, and Franco Nero.
When Amorth is called in to exorcise a demon from a young boy, he finds himself uncovering a centuries-old conspiracy hidden by the Vatican itself. The film was released April 14, 2023.
Unrelated to the following year's Russel Crowe vehicle The Exorcism (which was filmed before this one).
Previews: Trailer
, Behind The Scenes
The Pope's Exorcist includes the following examples:
- Artistic License – History:
- Despite what the film claims, its plot and story bear virtually no resemblance to the cited books of the real Gabriel Amorth. The latter certainly spoused some bizarre ideas about history, even speculating that the Nazi leaders might have been possesed by demons as a consequence of Nazi occultism, but he never claimed anything as extreme as that the whole Spanish Empire was puppeteered by a demon.
- The film repeats the myth that The Spanish Inquisition was "the darkest time of the Church". While the Spanish branch remains the most infamous in pop culture by several reasons, like foreign propaganda, modern Spanish attitudes against religion, and the trivia fact that it was the last major inquisition to be abolished,note it was also the least bloody and murderous of all the Catholic inquisitions of any age, functioning more as a culture police within the period's justice standards than the militant nightmare that makes everybody's idea of an inquisition. One could also even dare to say that the time of the Spanish Inquisition was one of the brightest of the Catholic Church, not the darkest, given that it was also the time of The Renaissance, humanism, Erasmus of Rotterdam, the School of Salamanca, and many other - certainly far from the work of a devil as portrayed in the film.
- Alonso de Ojeda was really among the promoters and creators of the Spanish Inquisition, but he was neither the only nor the most influential of them (his circle included powerhouses like Cardinal Pedro González de Mendoza and Tomás de Torquemada himself), and he was in charge of the inquisition for very little time, not enough to even set the guidelines of the whole thing. Needless to say, he wasn't an exorcist either.
- Demonic Possession: But of course. A young boy named Henry is possessed by a powerful and ruthless demon who has a particular vendetta against Father Amorth.
- Evil Sounds Deep: While possessed by Asmodeus, Henry's voice becomes unnaturally guttural.
- My Greatest Failure: Amorth is haunted by the memory of a teenage girl who he deemed mentally unstable rather than demonically possessed later killing herself, feeling partly responsible for the tragedy.
- Not This One, That One: While possessing Henry's body, Asmodeus demands that Henry's family bring him "the priest". When a priest other than Amorth shows up, he's flung out of the room like a rag doll, and the possessed boy roars, "Wrong! Fucking! Priest!"
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Asmodeus was previously imprisoned below the mansion but the contractors' work renovating the place causes him to escape and possess the young Henry.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The trailer and behind-the-scenes featurette confirm that this film is inspired by the files of the real exorcist Amorth.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: While taunting Amorth, Asmodeus retches up a dead baby bird.
