Directed by Alejandro Hidalgo, The Exorcism of God is a supernatural horror that was released on September 21st, 2021. The film has a small cast of talented actors that managed to get the film the “2022 International Box Office Achievement Awards” as the movie became the highest-earning Latino film of that year.
The film was also sent to the 16th Edition of the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, and it also premiered at the Sitges Film Festival, Fantasporto, and Screamfest. The Exorcism of God has actor Will Beinbrink as the main lead, Father Peter Williams, Maria Gabriela De Faria as Esperanza, Joseph Marcell as Father Michael Lewis, Iran Castillo as Magali, Hector Kotsifakis as Dr. Nelson, and a few others in the supporting cast.
The film follows an American priest called Father Peter Williams, who is posted in Mexico. It is during one of his exorcisms that he gets possessed by the evil spirit, which makes him, against his will, do terrible acts not quite suited to somebody who calls himself a priest. But the actual story of the film starts after a time skip of eighteen years when the sins of the terrible act finally catch up with the priest and haunt him to no end.
The Exorcism of God is a story of a battle between a priest and the holy spirits that are hell-bent on punishing the priest.
The Exorcism of God Movie Ending Explained
The movie opens with a distressed and scared doctor in his car driving towards the church to talk to a priest called Father Peter Williams. The two hurriedly reach a house that has a young girl called Magali, clearly possessed by some unholy spirit. Father Peter, a young priest, was still under training and was asked not to perform an exorcism till the older priest arrived.
A rookie at the exorcism part of the job, Peter somehow still manages to get the girl slightly under control. But the demon turns out to be not only stronger but also very cunning, as the girl kisses the priest, and the demon takes it as a cue to possess the priest’s body, leaving the girl unharmed.
We skip the story to eighteen years later when the same priest, Father Peter, is seen distributing food to little kids and being the genuinely nice man he always was. At some point, a woman approaches the priest with news of a child hurting and sick. One looks at the child, and the priest realizes it is best to take him to the hospital.
The doctors tell the father that a total of four children have died in the past week and that it is a really dangerous disease that does not have a cure. Peter is convinced that he is being punished for what happened all those years ago, and he decides to confess to the church’s leader everything about that night.
Except he is unable to hand over the video of the exorcism he took that night, the leader lets him stay and continue taking care of the sick children in need. The same night Peter finds himself at the altar, praying to God for forgiveness when he hears a loud, bloodcurdling scream. He follows the sound and finds Lord Jesus himself, covered completely in blood, crying and attacking Peter.
We soon realize that it was all a nightmare, and Peter chooses to ignore it. Peter eventually gets a call from prison saying that a girl has been possessed by the devil and Peter will have to go on business. In prison, the possessed girl looked very much like the girl at the start of the movie Magali.
The Truth Behind
A horrible flashback to that night fills us in on what the terrible act that Peter was made to commit was. The moment Peter was possessed by the devil from Magali’s body, it made him force himself upon her, and because of that, Magali got pregnant. The girl in prison in front of Peter was actually his and Magali’s daughter, also possessed by the same demon that had once possessed her parents. Magali finds Peter and asks him to take responsibility and save their daughter.
Peter continues to have similar nightmares related to the devil, which just adds to his belief that he is being rightfully punished for what he did that night. The young kid he brought to the hospital also passes away, and seeing the child’s mother cry adds to the heavy burden of his guilt.
Peter finally takes the video recording to the church’s leader and the older priests to ask for their help and finally resolve this growing problem. He is told that everything that is happening around him, with his daughter, the young kids dying, and his own nightmares are all the devil’s doing who is trying to weaken him mentally to get complete control over his body.
The Devil-Games Begin
In some other part of the church, a sister hears a similar bloodcurdling scream just like the one Peter had heard. While Peter and the others are on their way toward the source of the sound, the sister tries to protect the kids in the church who are about to become the first victims of the devil’s doings. But Peter and the group arrive just in time and immediately start performing an exorcism ritual forcing the devil to find a way out.
They decide to visit Peter’s daughter in prison at once and start treating her by performing an exorcism. Turns out the devil in her is too powerful, just like the one at the start of the film. They start performing the exorcism, but the devil tries to stop them from doing so by hurting the daughter’s body physically, beating her, and harming her friends.
Peter still pushes through with the exorcism, and we find him talking to Magali, telling her the truth about his own demonic possession that happened that night. Magali decides to forgive him, but things turn completely chaotic in the jail. The prison guard has been killed, all the inmates are under the control of the devil that possessed Peter’s daughter, and an even more powerful devil enters the dynamics.
It seems almost as if the entirety of hell was emptied as all of the evil spirits made their way to the prison kitchen where Peter and his companions were trapped. They are too powerful for someone like Peter, and the evil spirits end up killing all of his companions. Peter takes it upon himself to start an exorcism process to put an end to the evil happenings, but he becomes unconscious when his daughter strikes him in the head.
When Peter finally returns to consciousness, he finds himself tied just like he used to tie the people he performed an exorcism on. It is the devil inside Peter’s daughter’s body that is all ready to perform an exorcism on Peter to take away the God from inside him so that the devil can take control. At the same time, at the church, the kids suffer and are being killed by some other evil spirit sent by the same devil.
A Cruel End
The devil from his daughter’s body gives him two options and a chance to make things right once and for all. Peter could either choose to keep the God inside him with him, or he could keep the children alive. It is obviously a difficult choice considering he is being asked to either save the innocent lives of little kids or completely surrender the faith that he has maintained probably throughout his life.
But what is even more obvious is the choice that Peter will make, which is choosing to save the kids. At the moment that Peter announces his choice, the same moment his daughter heals, the children also find themselves left alone and safe. This also means that the devil will continue to reside within him, and right before the credits roll, he announces that he will continue to dominate the world.
The movie’s tagline, ” God and the devil cannot reside in the same body,” feels like a very blatant reveal of the film’s end which viewers realize only after they are done watching the film. Peter was asked to make a choice of either maintaining his faith or saving the children. He made the morally right choice even though his God and his faith refused to help him till the end.
It is almost ironic how the man of God had his God exorcised right out of him. Unlike films of similar genres, this one does not follow the conventional path of ‘good over evil’ as the devil clearly prevails, making the film not the most suitable for a sensitive audience.
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