Has anyone watched "The Devil and Fr. Amorth"

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JamalChristophr

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Just wondering if anyone has seen it? Thoughts?

It was made in 2017. I actually believed that the Catholic Church did not allow video footage to be taken of an exorcism, but Fr. Amorth must have decided to allow it, and I’m sure he cleared it with the bishop and other Vatican offices if it was necessary.

There is a short segment of it on youtube if you are inclined to watch, but it is probably not for people that are sensitive to seeing such things.

It is said that sometimes a person who is suffering from possession often may speak as if there are multiple voices speaking at the same time. That seems so to the case in this instance. Perhaps I’m mistaken, of course.
 
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I watched it and found it both extremely amateur and also tacky.
 
Sadly, the good priest was exploited by many people. I’d not put a nickle in their pockets.
 
What are your thoughts on possession? I guess I’m curious if you’re a skeptic or not. I would think on the face of it, watching the exorcism would be interesting. Were you not convinced that the woman was possessed? Perhaps the video really is not edifying.

It does not receive particularly high marks on Amazon, fwiw, which basically corresponds to your view.
 
I would agree with that, but I’m not convinced that the filming of this exorcism was as a result of poor judgment on his part.

I think that would be a rash conclusion to make. I’m not saying that you’re making it, mind you.

There are pros and cons to putting that exorcism to video. The woman in the video and the family gave their permission for it. But I haven’t dug into the whole thing really, not yet anyways.

Raymond Arroyo interviews William Friedkin, the producer of the film, at the 4 minute mark if anyone is intersted…

 
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  1. I do believe in possession, but I think it is rare, and many people who think they are possessed actually have some mental illness or other problem.
  2. I watched the YouTube snippet some time ago and didn’t find it that interesting or edifying. I felt uncomfortably like someone was getting exploited (either the person being exorcised, or Father, I wasn’t sure who) and also like I was watching something that really should have been private, or the film used only for research and not put up on Youtube.
  3. I can take the priests’ word for what happens in exorcisms, that people use different voices and such, without my having to see and hear them myself. Since I’m not a researcher nor an exorcist-in-training, I’d be happier just reading a transcript or description and not have to watch film of some person allegedly acting possessed, it’s not pleasant and feels like an invasion of privacy.
 
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Perhaps a part of me wants to be reminded that he is quite real (the devil and other unclean spirits). It’s probably a sign of imperfect faith, but nevertheless, it makes me more cognizant to the fact fallen angels are not metaphors, but I can see how many would share your sentiments. They’re likely more reasonable than mine. Pretty sure.

Perhaps a positive thing that may come of people watching the video is that some who don’t believe in the devil will begin to realize that he, indeed, does exist, that there really is a spiritual reality around us. Some people will always remains skeptics, sure, but I think there is some good that potentially could be derived from the documentation. (just my opinion, obviously)

I think that Fr. Amorth must have had some amount of reasoning that went into him making the decision to allow the video recording. However, I don’t know if William Friedkin had any sort of understanding with Fr. Amorth as to how the video footage ought be used.
 
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