Anyone can wear a white clerical collar and pretend to be a Catholic priest, but, strangely, when actor Gabriel Byrne wears one it seems authentic. His role in the film is also the best it has to offer. He's an investigator for the Vatican, finding — and, if need be, discrediting — alleged religious miracles. He's sent to investigate Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette), a young party-going hairdresser who appears to be suffering the stigmata of the title.
There's about 10 minutes, in total, in which the film gets close to being a sophisticated drama with theological concerns firmly fixed but open to interpretation, but then it stumbles over its own telling and reverts to being just another horror with christian themes used for broad dramatic effect.
2 impressions of the truth out of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment