Rupert Wainwright’s ‘STIGMATA’ (1999) – 25th Anniversary Review

Rupert Wainwright’s Stigmata came out twenty-five years ago, when I was preparing to graduate. I had heard about this movie but never gave it a chance. It didn’t seem thrilling to me. However, when I watched it again, I fell in love. It was a movie right up my alley with how I see religion. It’s a disturbing movie, with many moments where you are slightly confused. I concluded that this was a shot at the Catholic faith.

The Gift

Stigmata is a rare gift from God; it’s a genuine outlook on how even religious men and women act. It’s like a gut shot to say God can’t help you because the men of God make God’s rules with no insight. I can get behind this idea. I will not be spiritual until we start a religion based on cats. Stigmata is the kind of movie that I like. However, it still sits in a box. Sometimes, I may throw it into my regular watchlist; I know it’s streaming, but I would quickly get distracted. I want to give it a proper chance again because, who knows, it may bother me again. Even if I didn’t think the story was great, it’s like the church’s version of The Exorcist.

Synopsis

Frankie (Patricia Arquette, True romance 1993) is a woman living on the edge of life. She has fun at the cost of her pride. Frankie is promiscous and a club girl. Her life never stops, she avoids her home where she is alone. One day Frankie is given an ancient artifact. Frankie’s life is turned upside down and she is terrified at what would happen next. After speaking in tongues, and other episodes. Frankie soon accepts the help of Father Andrew Keirnan (Gabriel Byrne, Usual Suspects, 1995). Her situation only gets worse with the presence of a priest in her home. Together they fight Frankies condition to bring her back to herself.

The effects in the film were exceptional and made with taste and a lot of research to make it happen. The story was spot on, even competing with other possession movies. This also wasn’t quite a possession; somehow, they call this a gift from God. It’s like Jesus on a piece of toast; only this piece of toast could annihilate all of us. Would you be willing to save your family or run from the end of times? The question came to my mind while watching this movie all those years ago.

In The End

Stigmata is one of those movies that can infect your brain while you watch it, but it has to be a mood. Accept the weirdness and enjoy it; maybe you already have. How do you debate the statement? I don’t believe there is anything up there, but if it comes down to it, I would probably be one of the first people they abandon to pick up the pieces. Or burn for life or something, or at least I had a life full of fun.