stigmata

stigmata is a an inflicted injury on a persons body usually in extreme religious condition , the first stigmata was reported on saint Francis of Assisi , who was very active in worldly pleasures but gave up all , after he had a dream of god . st Francis left his trade and family to settle in desert , He fasted for forty days , prayed intensely and suffered from serious self mutilations , with extreme hunger and thirst , visions started coming to him , one day near a river he saw an angel with wings who had same injuries as Jesus , he was amazed and went to his cave to pray , after some time he himself had those injuries , this made him very adhere to faith and the sufferings Jesus had . His way of stigma seems to be in most of the religious conventions of extreme believes , after ST Francis many claimed to have seen angels , and started getting blood all over their hands , palms , head , feet and in severe cases in stomach claiming it to be stigmata . The movie more or less revolves around the same theme , directed by Rupert Wainwright ,starring Patricia arquette as an atheist hair dresser named Frankie , who gets a rosary from his mother as a gift , the rosary belonged to Padre Almeda , who was a renowned priest known for his devotion to god and stigmatic effects all over his body . with his spiritual depth and religious understanding he gets a huge following , After few years father Almeda passes away , the people in his funeral are amazed to see the statue of Virgin Mary bleeding from eyes and hands , one of the spectators is father Andrew Kienan who is a scientist , always in search of miracles and giving a scientific explanation to it ,but this bleeding of statue could not get him to any conclusion , father Kienan takes photos and mail them to Vatican , but the higher priests removes him from the project , saying its of no significance . Meanwhile Frankie starts getting stigmatic effects , one by one all over her body , one day while going in a train she suffers from a severe stigmatic attack , witnessed by many , one of whom was father donning a Jesuit priest , he takes out the CCTV footage of the incident and sends it to Rome , Andrew Kienan is assigned for this new project , he meets Frankie and asks her few questions , the next day he goes to her apartment were he finds her writing something on the wall in Aramaic , an ancient language used in the time of Jesus ,Andrew calls for a translator , the translation says that its gospel of Thomas , one of the first recorded speeches of Jesus , the texts says that you don't need any priest or church to find god , god is every where its just the right connection that you need to make . As soon as Vatican comes to know of this revelation , they demand for the texts and remove Kienan from the project , telling him to join father donning . The high priest from the Vatican takes Frankie to the main church , and performs exorcism , after some effort the spirit of father Almeda speaks through Frankie , about the true gospel and how the Vatican is cheating the whole Christendom by keeping it hidden , he says that the monopoly of church over the believers is the biggest sin the church and clergies are committing . Almeda says that he is determined to break that monopoly by even overcoming death , hearing Almeda the priest tries to strangle Frankie telling that the gospel will never be out no matter what . Meanwhile Andrew comes and stops the priest and pushes him away from Frankie , he drags him out of the room , the room catches fire all around and Father Almeda shouting that he will not leave unless his work is done , Kienan in polite manner tells Almeda that he will let the world know about the true gospel and carry his left over mission till its completed , Almeda leaves Frankie in peace , and she is finally relieved from all the pains . in the end we see Kienan taking out an old document from church compound which is probably the translation of the gospel done by Father Alameda . The movie is well directed by wainwright , with fast paced camera work , graphics simulated scenes , very rock oriented music in background and remarkable acting done by Patricia arquette , its a definitely a watch for Gothic and shady movie goers .

OCTOBER 9