I thought that it was a really well-done movie. There were parts that scared me, but for the most part it just inspired thought. Someone I know typed out a passage from a book on possessions about the actual case that inspired this movie...
"In November 1973 Anneliese Michel, a young student at the University of Wurzburg, West Germany, was taken by her parents to see the parish priest in her hometown of Klingenberg. She had developed some worrisome signs of abnormal behavior at the university-refusing to eat, flying into violent rages, screaming, and trying to attack those around her-and her parents were deeply concerned.
In the priest's view, Anneliese was possessed by demons, and he reccomended a ritual exorcism. As Roman Catholic procedure requires, the case was investigated by a leading authority on exorcism and demonic possession, Father Adolf Rodewyk, an 81 year-old Jesuit. Father Rodewyk agreed with the priest's diagnosis, and on his reccomendation the regional bishop, Father Josef Stangl, gave permission for the exorcism to take place. The exorcists chosen for the task were the Reverend Arnold Renz and the Reverend Ernst Alt. By then Anneliese had been receiving medical treatment for epilepsy for four years.
On July 1, 1976, after several months of exorcism, Anneliese died of malnutrition and dehydration at the age of 23. She weighed 70 pounds. On March 2, 1978, the two exorcists and Anneliese's parents were charged with negligent homicide, on the grounds that they had allowed the young girl's condition to deteriorate to the point of death without seeking medical help for her. Bishop Stangl and Father Rodewyk, who seem not to have known that medical help was being withheld, were not charged. In April 1978 the two priests were found guilty and were given suspended prison sentences of six months.
For the Roman Catholic Church, the death of Anneliese Michel was a nightmare come true, demonstrating the dangers inherent in the ritual of exorcism and the murky distinctions between priestly and medical responsibility. In Father Rodewyk's own handbook on possession and exorcism, originally published in 1963 and translated into English under the title "Possessed by Satan", priests are urged to consider medical explanations for apparent possession."
