Eerie, realistic, and mind-boggling are the words that I think describe the movie, Stigmata. When I sat down this weekend to watch the movie, I wasn't sure what I was in for. My friend told me it was a scary movie so I got my boyfriend to sit down with me as the movie began. (Extra Bonus cuddle time.) By the time the movie was over, I was completely intrigued with the whole notion of the stigmata, the Gospel of Thomas, and what the other religious books might be.
The first scene that caught my attention was when the statue of Mary had blood running down it. I have learned of such phenomenon occurring from my religion classes in high school, but never seen one reenacted. The visual had a much greater impact on me then the readings in high school. (As the say a picture is worth a thousand words.) This first scene got me really intrigued in the movie.
When Frankie, the main character, went into "fits" while she received the signs of the stigmata also caught my attention. Unlike my boyfriend who was disturbed by these occurrences, I was fascinated. I felt bad for Frankie because she had to endure she harsh pain, yet I wanted to know more about what was happening to her. .
I thought that it was absolutely wonderful how the director/writer chose to have the stigmata afflicted on an average non-religious young woman. I agreed with a portion of the message that the movie was telling us. The basic understanding of why she received the stigmata was because she received Father Alameida's rosary after his death, and that he needed a messenger-body to relay his translation of the Gospel of Thomas to the world. This message wasn't what the Catholic Church is today. I liked that they chose a women who wasn't particularly interested with institutional religion. I believe that you don't have to go to church every Sunday to be religious and do good things. I also don't agree with some of the practices that the Catholic Church does.