The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist
By Matt Baglio
The author was, by his own statement in the Author's Note at the end of the book, more of a cultural Catholic than one practicing his faith, a freelance reporter living in Italy. He saw a news item one day that the Regina Apostolorum university in Rome was offering a course for exorcists, and thought it might at least give him an interesting article. He made contact with a priest from the US and followed him throughout his training, which he recounts in fairly dispassionate terms--not clinical or stark, but simply narrating what he observed.
What he observed was enough to convince him that something real was happening. He did his homework, interviewing psychologists from a variety of perspectives from believing to atheist, and reported those conversations as well.
There are a few dramatic scenes in the book, including the opening one, but anyone looking for cheap thrills is in the wrong place. If anything, it seems that the process of exorcism is usually a matter of slow progress rather than dramatic Hollywood-style episodes. Worth noting also is the repeated emphasis that prayer, Mass attendance, and the good use of the sacrament of Confession are often as important as anything the exorcist himself does.
I found the book informative and interesting without being sensational, and on a topic that deserves informative and interesting but non-sensational coverage, but it's just not quite there in 5-star territory, so I'll say 4-1/2 out of 5.
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I've seen only the trailers for the movie, based on which I have no plans to see the movie itself. It looks as if the caution and lack of prurient interest in evil have been abandoned in favor of the usual Hollywood-style episodes. Read the book. I won't tell you not to see the movie since I haven't seen it; I'll just say again that I have no plans to see it.
