Stigmata

Starring:Patricia Arquette, Gabriel Byrne, Jonathan Pryce, Nia Long, Thomas Kopache, Rade Serbedzija, Enrico Colantoni, Dick Latessa, Portia de Rossi, Patrick Muldoon, Ann Cusack, Shaun Toub, Tom Hodges, Lydia Hazan, Shaun Duke, Valarie Trapp, Kessia Randall, Frankie Thorn, Mariah Nunn, Tom Fahn
Director: Rupert Wainwright
Studio: MGM Home Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Gabriel Byrne plays Father Kiernan, a young Jesuit priest whose degree in chemistry makes him a sort of priest/detective as he investigates weeping Marys and the like around the world. Meanwhile, Frankie (Patricia Arquette), a rave-generation Pittsburgher, is afflicted with the stigmata--holes that appear in her wrists, resembling the wounds of Christ. The young woman's symptoms filter back to the Vatican and Father Kiernan is assigned to the case. The priest is puzzled by Frankie's atheism; usually the stigmata only appear on the devout (hence the age-old controversy of miracles vs. hysteria). Other manifestations appear on Frankie, and the priest's cardinal (Jonathan Pryce) is brought in, leading to political maneuvering within the Church hierarchy. The film owes a large and obvious debt to The Exorcist (at one point, Frankie's bed scoots across the room and she levitates into a crucifix position), but to term it an Exorcist rip-off would be to shortchange Stigmata. The premise and screenplay are more cerebral than in the l973 film, and the source of the phenomenon is coming from a completely different place.

Amazon.com

Gabriel Byrne plays Father Kiernan, a young Jesuit priest whose degree in chemistry makes him a sort of priest/detective as he investigates weeping Marys and the like around the world. Meanwhile, Frankie (Patricia Arquette), a rave-generation Pittsburgher, is afflicted with the stigmata--holes that appear in her wrists, resembling the wounds of Christ. The young woman's symptoms filter back to the Vatican and Father Kiernan is assigned to the case. The priest is puzzled by Frankie's atheism; usually the stigmata only appear on the devout (hence the age-old controversy of miracles vs. hysteria). Other manifestations appear on Frankie, and the priest's cardinal (Jonathan Pryce) is brought in, leading to political maneuvering within the Church hierarchy. The film owes a large and obvious debt to The Exorcist (at one point, Frankie's bed scoots across the room and she levitates into a crucifix position), but to term it an Exorcist rip-off would be to shortchange Stigmata. The premise and screenplay are more cerebral than in the l973 film, and the source of the phenomenon is coming from a completely different place.

Unfortunately, amid Stigmata's high-octane editing and slick technique, the chills of The Exorcist aren't there, giving the movie a sort of identity crisis: horror movie or intellectual thriller? Several elements of the film challenge basic tenets of the Catholic faith, hence the brief furor that erupted at the time of the film's release; if nothing else, the internal workings of the Church are shown in a very unflattering light indeed. Byrne excels as the skeptical priest, as does Arquette as the tortured young woman. All told, Stigmata is a rather uneven effort, but one with a thought-provoking combination of theology and thrills served up in a thoroughly modern, stylish package. Fans of TV's Ally McBeal will recognize Portia DeRossi in a supporting role. --Jerry Renshaw

Description

A lost soul has just received the wounds of Christ and a shocking message that will alter history. Stunning performances from Patricia Arquette (True Romance), Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects) and Jonathan Pryce (Ronin) and a cutting edge score by Billy Corgan of The SmashingPumpkins and Elia Cmiral make Stigmata a visual and visceral feast (Entertainment Today). Frankie Paige (Arquette) has absolutely no faith in God. All of that changes when she suddenly begins to suffer the Stigmatathe living wounds of the crucified Christ. Frankie's miraculous bleeding comes to the attention of the Vatican's top investigator, Father Kiernan (Byrne). But when Cardinal Houseman (Pryce), discovers that Frankie is actually channeling an extraordinary and provocative message that could destroy the Church, he's convinced that she - and the force possessing hermust be forever silenced. Determined to stop this deadly conspiracy, Kiernan risks his faithandhis lifeto save her and the message that will change the destiny of mankind forever!

Customer Reviews:

You're going down Catholic church!!!.......2007-05-14

This movie is so cool!! my oh my since im so against the catholic church you can see so many more reasons to hate the church here, so cool. The dvd comes with an exellent quality, the same ending and an additional kind of ending. subtitles in english spanish and french. Exellent movie a must see

The Gospel of Thomas.......2007-01-14

"Stigmata" is a great movie. Patricia Arquette stars as a young woman in the U.S. who shows signs of stigmata. A priest from the Vatican links up with her and cares for her as she is increasingly afflicted by the stigmata. Her ranting and raving finally begins to make sense to the priest who starts to question what his religion has stood for. This movie is good on its own account, but I love it because it introduced me to "The Gospel of Thomas," the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Nag Hammadi Bible.

The Gospel of Thomas is not satanic.......2006-10-01

An essential approach of religion, of christianism and yet the film is very disappointing. It is well built, a real thriller all along, yet there are too many lines, threads and we don't know after a while which one is the main thread. Is it the fear of the church in front of the hypothetical Gospel by Jesus himself ? Is it the possession of Franckie by the spirit of Alameida, the priest from Belo Quinto ? Is it the destiny of the priest Andrew who is invesrtigating Franckie's case and ends up protecting her against his own church ? Is it the fate that knocks at Franckie and Andrew's door ? And there are some more. This makes the ending, alternative or not, rather limited. The stigmata are not the real problem at stake here. It is not the resurgence of these stigmata on people who are called for some kind of mission by God himself that is important. In this film it is the fact that this girl who has no real religious belief is seized and even possessed by these stigmata becaue she has the rosary of the dead priest, a rosary that was sent to her by her mother who bought it at the time of the burial from a local Brazilian boy who had just stolen it from the dead priest's casket. The film thus wants us to believe the feeling of guilt coming from the theft is carried by the rosary and can haunt or possess the recipient of the stolen rosary. This is farfetched and yet it is a lot more than that because it is heavily linked to the Gospel of Thomas, an apocryphal gospel that would have been the dead priest's possession, and this would represent the fear of the church to be destroyed if it were revealed. Absurd since it has been revealed, since we can find it on the Internet, and the church is far from being dead. In other words the film neglects one thing : faith. A religion is only alive if people believe in it and people will believe in a religion if it is some kind of solace or/and support in their particular lives. This is what is not shown and what is even made senseless in the logic of the film. A dead priest becomes more powerful than God himself, to the point that the orthodox representatives of the Vatican consider the girl as possessed by the devil, and try to exhorcize her. In other words the film is kind of fuzzy on logic and messy on details.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne

Entertaining fiction........2006-08-06

This movie was comical as to both content and production. Yet, the producers brazenly add a concluding unscientific postscript about the gospel of Thomas discovered in 1945. This movie overdid the trashed apartment theme a la Blake Edwards of Pink Panther lore. The male voice coming from the woman probably sealed the priest's vow to remain celebite. The supernatural power in the woman that trashed the New York subway train was apparently careless of the safety of the people on the subway, as well as reckless in disregard of the insurance claims. The priests in this movie must have been modeled on the Anti Defamation League in their consummate fanaticism. The one priest was fanatical, the other a borderline libertine. Ironically, both appeal to the spirit of Hollywood and serve its purposes in giving credance to gnosticism by discrediting symbols of Christiandom. However, in its ad hominem attacks, gnostic Hollywood stays free and clear from addressing any factual questions, such as the actual dating of the socalled gospel of Thomas. If the "kingdom of God lies within you," then why are people so selfish, greedy and rotten? Gnostic Hollywood cannot answer this question. What is brainwashing? Who has that as their priority? Brainwashing creates the appearance of appealing to the intellect while all the long censoring the person from contravening facts and arguments. We don't hear both sides of the story in this film. All we get is the classic informal fallacies of appeal to emotion and ad hominem attacks. I hope the viewing public has enough self respect to pick up work written by Christian scholars who, unlike Hollywood, actually give you facts and information.

I recommend reading John A. T. Robinson's book "Redating the New Testament," or F. F. Bruce's book "The New Testament Documents: Are they Reliable," or Geisler and Nix's book "Guide to the Bible." While the canonical books clearly share an ideological parlance, they also can be dated within a few years of Christ's crucifixion. The gnostic texts don't have this merit. Furthermore, the gnostic texts are in contradiction to the teachings of the canonical texts.

Rock out, I guess.......2006-07-09

A typical, atheist, New York woman is just going about her life, "liking being me," when suddenly she starts having seizures... and after the fits wakes up to find wounds on her that match the wounds received by Christ. An investigative priest comes to figure out what's happening, and the two set out to discover what's happening, ultimately uncovering a big Vatican conspiracy.

The movie has a lot going for it, especially with an untypical character receiving the stigmata and the great cast it has built up (Patricia Arquette and Jonathan Pryce especially). It also has Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins doing the score, but that apparent benefit is also one of the film's minor failings... A score should undertone and strengthen a film's drama, but this movie with its excessive (and repetitive) fast-paced editing, directorial fat, and overfocus on the music makes it seem much more like an hour and a half long music video.

That's cool if you're wanting a music video. However, I don't imagine many people approach this film from this direction. I would have prefered more focus on the rest of the craft of the movie, but that's just me.

It's also slightly predictable in that not-good-predictable way. There's one scene that seems kind of excessive but is foreshadowed earlier, though that doesn't mean it was necessary. Overall the film just got too caught up with being some visual/musicy slamfest to slow down and think about what it was trying to do.

--PolarisDiB

Roberto Rossilini's The Flowers of St. Francis ~ presented by Federico Fellini (Original theatrical release) [Import, All-Region] (Dvd)

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Roberto Rossilini's The Flowers of St. Francis ~ presented by Federico Fellini (Original theatrical release) [Import, All-Region] (Dvd)
Director: Roberto Rossellini
Manufacturer: Sky Cinema
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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"..leave it to Roberto Rossellini ... to come up with cinema's purest, least cynical vision of faith.." Slant Magazine
This is the version originally released in theaters.
Import from Korea made for the USA/Canada marketplace (NTSC, All-Region)

ASIN: B000MVNJV4

Product Description

In a series of simple and joyous vignettes, director Roberto Rossellini and co-writer Federico Fellini lovingly convey the universal teachings of the People's Saint: humility, compassion, faith, and sacrifice. Shot in a neorealist manner, with monks from the Nocere Inferiore monastery playing the roles of St. Francis and his disciples, The Flowers of St. Francis is a timeless and moving portrait of the search for spiritual enlightenment.

Stigmata and the Prophecies of Fatima: Christian Mysticism and the Blood of Christ

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Stigmata and the Prophecies of Fatima: Christian Mysticism and the Blood of Christ
Starring: Stigmata & the Prophecies of Fatima
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Stigmata
Padre Pio, Miracle Man
Faustina
The Celestine Prophecy
What the Bleep!? - Down the Rabbit Hole (QUANTUM Three-Disc Special Edition)

ASIN: B000FS2WI0
Release Date: 2006-06-13

Description

Stigmata, in Christian mysticism, are bodily marks resembling the wounds suffered by Jesus Christ when he was crucified on the cross over 2,000 years ago. From the 14th to the 20th Century, more than 330 people have been identified as having been stigmatized. Even today these wounds have mysteriously manifested, without scientific explanation, on the hands, on the feet, near the heart, and on the head and shoulders of those afflicted with this condition.

Description

The marks correspond to the places where Christ was nailed to the cross and cut with a spear by his killers. They appear suddenly and may leave the same way, or linger for decades. They are stigmata, and they are among the most puzzling of all unexplained phenomenon. STIGMATA: MARKED FOR LIFE chronicles the most famous of the over 300 claimed occurrences of stigmata through the ages. Here is the story of St. Francis of Assisi, the first stigmatic, on whom the wounds appeared in 1224; of Padre Pio, an Italian friar who is said to have bled for fifty years until his death in 1968; of Theresa Neumann, who believers said survived only on the Eucharist for 35 years. In each of these cases, experts like Ted Harrison, the author of Stigmata: A Medieval Phenomenon, and Neuro-Psychologist Dr. Marco Magnelli, examine the historical records in search of clues about what lies behind this extraordinary phenomenon. Are they acts of God? Have these people really been touched? Or are they simply desperate attempts for attention? STIGMATA: MARKED FOR LIFE explores every side of an issue that blends faith, medicine and myth.

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You're going down Catholic church!!!
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Starring: Patricia Arquette , Gabriel Byrne , Jonathan Pryce , Nia Long , and Thomas Kopache
Director: Rupert Wainwright
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Customer Reviews:

You're going down Catholic church!!!.......2007-05-14

The Gospel of Thomas.......2007-01-14

The Gospel of Thomas is not satanic.......2006-10-01

Entertaining fiction........2006-08-06

Rock out, I guess.......2006-07-09

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Convergence [Import, All-region] (Dvd)
Director: Gavin Wilding
Manufacturer: PS KR
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Enter The Realm Of FEAR.
Don't be around when these lines get crossed.
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ASIN: B000N3LKW6

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When reporter Ali Caine (Cynthia Preston: Whale Music) goes undercover with her partner Morley Allen (Christopher Lloyd: Man on the Moon) to expose the mystery behind a sting of supernatural murders, what they unravel is far more gruesome than they ever imagined. Strange coincidences begin to occur -- a psychiatric patient predicts the death of Ali's best friend, a young boy bleeds from his hands and feet, and Brady (Adrian Paul: Highlander IV), a man obsessed with death, becomes her new lover. As the fabric of her life begins to unravel, Ali realizes that her past and present are converging head on. Suddenly she must confront the fate that is determined to take its course and claim the life of the one who cheated death.

Average customer rating:

You're going down Catholic church!!!
The Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel of Thomas is not satanic
Entertaining fiction.
Rock out, I guess

Stigmata [Region 2]
Starring: Patricia Arquette , Gabriel Byrne , Jonathan Pryce , Nia Long , and Thomas Kopache
Director: Rupert Wainwright
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

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Stir of Echoes (Special Edition)
End of Days
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The Ninth Gate

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Customer Reviews:

You're going down Catholic church!!!.......2007-05-14

The Gospel of Thomas.......2007-01-14

The Gospel of Thomas is not satanic.......2006-10-01

Entertaining fiction........2006-08-06

Rock out, I guess.......2006-07-09

Average customer rating:

You're going down Catholic church!!!
The Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel of Thomas is not satanic
Entertaining fiction.
Rock out, I guess

Stigmata
Starring: Patricia Arquette , Gabriel Byrne , Jonathan Pryce , Nia Long , and Thomas Kopache
Director: Rupert Wainwright
Manufacturer: MGM Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Horror | Genres | DVD | Video

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Stir of Echoes (Special Edition)
End of Days
The Seventh Sign
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ASIN: B00004ZAV5
Release Date: 2000-02-29

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

You're going down Catholic church!!!.......2007-05-14

The Gospel of Thomas.......2007-01-14

The Gospel of Thomas is not satanic.......2006-10-01

Entertaining fiction........2006-08-06

Rock out, I guess.......2006-07-09

Average customer rating:

You're going down Catholic church!!!
The Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel of Thomas is not satanic
Entertaining fiction.
Rock out, I guess

Stigmata [Region 2]
Starring: Patricia Arquette , Gabriel Byrne , Jonathan Pryce , Nia Long , and Thomas Kopache
Director: Rupert Wainwright
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video