‘After the Enlightenment era, when science ousted the devil from the world, exorcisms were in retreat, and possessions became more and more rare. The fashion came back, very strongly, in the end of the 20th century’, says Professor Zbigniew Pasek, a religious studies scholar at AGH University of Science and Technology, and one of the people featured in Konrad Szołajski’s film. Controversial though these words about the fashion for possessions may seem, they are hard to deny. The number of exorcists working for Polish dioceses has increased several times over in the past few years, a World Centre for Exorcisms is coming into existence in the village of Poczernin, located 25 kilometres east of Szczecin, and a monthly magazine titled ‘Egzorcysta’ (The Exorcist) is sold in Polish news stands.
In his film, Szołajski tries to understand where the growing popularity and publicity of exorcists stems from. He talks to priests, psychiatrists, religious studies scholars, therapists associated with the Catholic Church, and those who are sceptical about possession. The director questions, listens carefully to the answers, and then shares his conclusions with viewers.
The focus is on the fates of three girls – Karolina, Basia, and Agnieszka. Each of them believes themselves to be possessed by a demon. They’re looking for help from the church and Catholic therapists, all for different reasons. Karolina wants to rid herself of the ‘demon of homosexuality’, Agnieszka informed her priest that she doesn’t believe in God in a religion class at school, and for Basia, a twenty-year-old student who has recently left her family home, the alleged possession becomes a chance to run away from the unknown world and reintegrate with the rest of her family.
As Szołajski said:
I knew from the beginning that the characters were the most important element of the film. It was crucial to find people who not only believed in possession, but were also going through it. And, what's more, would let us film their exorcism or prayer for deliverance, and enter their private lives, get to know the communities and conditions in which they live.
Szołajski’s camera comes very close to the characters. In some scenes, the lens is half a metre from their faces. This peculiar way of framing drives the viewer right into the middle of the story, where he becomes a participant of the exorcisms filmed by Szołajski.
The Battle with Satan is terrifying. Not because it exploits the aesthetics of documentary horror (like in the case of The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel by Maciej Bodasiński), but because it leaves the viewer helpless. Szołajski’s characters, manipulated by those they consider authority figures, willingly deprive themselves of their own free will. These lonely, sensitive girls need to be ‘possessed’ to gain the attention of other people – therapists, family, religious friends.
Szołajski’s characters fall into a trap. On the one hand they’re frightened by the possession, on the other – it grants fulfilment. Listening to the voices of people praying for their deliverance, it’s hard not to notice how appealing the spectacularity of exorcisms as such is: effective screams and spasms (the repertoire is limited to a few behaviours seen in the classic The Exorcist by Friedkin). Participation in prayers is a source of pride and a testimony to their courage. It gives them a feeling of power. ‘Do you have an urge to blaspheme?’, the exorcist-priest asks his ward. Many skeptical viewers would answer that question with a ‘yes’. Szołajski’s film doesn’t leave anyone indifferent, it is outrageous and jarring. As the director emphasised:
In The Battle with Satan my own emotions were important. When I was surprised, I was trying to convey that feeling to the viewer. In this film, my own astonishment is the basic category I used. I couldn’t believe in what I’ve seen for a long time.
Harsh criticism is directed at the clergymen blinded by their own power, and secular members of the Church exhibiting the mentality of sect members. It shows how religion classes in schools, if conducted in a wrong manner, may teach young people to believe in the magical reality, and build the feeling of guilt and danger in them (one of the talks about people spitting nails, and evil demons rasping). The film is about the oppression that the Church uses against homosexual people and about bad clerical therapist who do not tell their charges to seek psychiatric help but prevent them from participating in ordinary therapy.
At the same time, The Battle With Satan is not an anti-Catholic film. One of the most important characters is a priest who is also a psychiatrist, convincing the characters that it is not an evil demon that is the cause of their suffering, but mental disorders which are treatable with medical help. Szołajski is not interested in attacking the Church as such, but in telling a story of contemporary people desperately looking for sense and order. The characters in The Battle With Satan voluntarily become victims of the manipulators – they’re ready to believe in everything that would make their world a little more orderly. In a country where Father Bashobora draws tens of thousands of people to his shows, Szołajki’s film is particularly accurate. It also tells something very important about the contemporary craving for spirituality – the fashion for exorcisms is testimony to it.
- The Battle With Satan, written and directed by Konrad Szołajski, cinematography by Michał Ślusarczyk, music by Adam Walicki, montage by Paweł Kowalik. Produced by HBO.
author: Bartosz Staszczyszyn, translated by Natalia Sajewicz July 2016