Masterful Movie

Did you people see the same film I saw?

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

When a young woman becomes afflicted by stigmata, a priest is sent to investigate her case, which may have severe ramifications for his faith and for the Catholic Church itself. Stigmata is a 1999 Horror film starring Gabriel Byrne, Jonathan Pryce and Patricia Arquette, this movie was totally creepy as hell there's some scenes with Patricia (who gives an amazing perfomance in this film just like Byrne) that are totally disturbing especially when someone else is talking for her. The special effects are magnificent some scenes like the Alley and the Train are really good especially for their time. If you loved 'End of Days' (1999) also starring Byrne you're going to love 'Stigmata' as well. (A+)

I almost overlooked this movie the first time around, simply because I found what I now realize was essential scene-setting for the plot too much; in that the so cool characters it first introduces us to and their so cool lives were such a successful personification of the soulless, shallow Hell that is the modern world that I wrote it off initially as propaganda for that philosophy. But I was only 17 at the time and lacked the patience that this movie was asking for. If anything it's to the credit of it's creators, both seen and unseen that the movie encompassed the impact so early on to stir a visceral reaction in it's viewer.Frankie's life is one of meaningless fun and the mere thought of anything meaningful to her and her peer-group is out of the question. Frankie clearly, from the outset is not as superficial as her friends; this we see as she takes seriously the prospect of being pregnant whilst her closest friend Donna simply implies that she should get an abortion, also that the casual nature of her relationship with Steven bothers her. As the reality of the Stigmata and all it's ramifications take over her life her friends and colleagues begin to distance themselves from her. I am pleased to say about this movie that as predictable as the involvement between Frankie and the Priest was it didn't degrade the story; Frankie, despite living a shallow existence is at root a kind and what you might say "Christian" person. She gives money to people begging, she doesn't jump to the choice of abortion as a reflex action because she understands that an abortion(termination) is the taking of a life, she resents being used for sex by her lover Steven, in short, subconsciously she is deeply desiring that her life should have meaning. Into this void, in timely fashion steps Father Andrew Kiernan; the interaction between Gabriel Byrne and Patricia Arquette really gives strength to the story for many reasons. One being the excellent chemistry between the two. He incites in her faith as she leads him into temptation. He is a stranger to her who displays genuine compassion when she is someone with many friends who all distance themselves from her as she begins to need them deeply. Underwriting this also is the fact that despite an age gap the prospect of a relationship between the two isn't a ridiculous thing to suggest, partly because the actors in question work well to convince us of it. Gabriel Byrne's character of Father Andrew Kiernan also helps us to see why he is so incongruous to the Priesthood in that he is too genuinely Christian to represent the Vatican. Practising real Christian values such as going out and associating with prostitutes without being judgmental or not feeling threatened by the possibility of the Vatican or organized church in general losing their monopoly on God.The Film's overall message of how Faith can exist in a world that seems determined to destroy it is a satisfying one. One might even say that the scenes of the extreme banal(a contradiction I realize) on which the film opens, but extremes, as terrible as they might be do nonetheless allow us to see if not what a thing is then at least what it is not and that Evil, if it is real(I think it is),would definitely harness Banality and Neutrality because at it's heart the Right decision isn't always an obvious one and that to do the Right thing we must take the chance of doing the Wrong thing and that the worst thing to do is acquiesce and fail to take part.

Stigmata (1999)I thought I already seen movies once and could not remember anything from it before. So I gave this another got, I must of this movie confused with another movie, how could i forget about everything in this movie, it was awesome movie. I loved the movie started nice slow start with some strange happens and the movie flowed really well, Some of those scenes were really well made, and sometime it's really powerful scenes and scary at the same. The whole movie strange good feel, it creepy at times and scary at timesThe whole was a lot of fun to watch 8 out of 10 great movie

A priest from the Vatican, Father Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne) is sent to Sao Paulo, Brazil to investigate the appearance of the face of the Virgin Mary on the side of a building. While there he hears of a statue of the Virgin Mary bleeding tears in a small town outside of the city after the death of another priest. Meanwhile, a young woman in the United States of America, Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette) begins to show signs of stigmata, the five wounds of Jesus Christ.For a movie that was just made in 1999, Stigmata is quite dated. The cinematography is good, but some sequences are shot in a pop video style which was all the rage back in the 90's and it gets very ridiculous at times. I'm not a Christian, but the movie is anti-church, but not anti-god. There's a galore of conspiracy by the church which isn't exactly news to anybody. There's a lot of symbolism here though. I loved the water droplets scene which was symbolic of a non-believer like Patricia Arquette's character getting baptized after she slowly started to admit there might be a higher entity (I think all so-called 'Gods' were probably aliens or advanced human beings). It encourages you to question and ponder about what you believe is the truth.The quote: 'the Kingdom of God is inside you, and all around you, not in mansions of wood and stone. Split a piece of wood... and I am there, lift a stone... and you will find me' is somewhat similar to what the oldest religion (a very loose term to define it) in the world, Hinduism, which is rooted in Vedic tradition says - 'Aham Brahmasmi' - 'I am God' and thereby, everywhere, everything and everyone (trees, animals, humans, space among countless other things) has a God inside themselves and we just have to adhere to a moral code. I just find religions very intriguing. The main drawbacks of the movie are the music, the stylized shots and the very annoying Hollywood ending. Its an enjoyable movie with good performances by the actors though.7/10