Exorcist: The Beginning

Corrected entry: Repeatedly in the movie the doctor is seen giving a flesh colored band-aid to her patients, impressive since this movie is supposed to have taken place before 1950. The director even has a shot where the actor holds up his hand to show the audience what a wonderful flesh colored band-aid it is.

Correction: Flesh coloured band-aids were introduced in 1947, so the doctor using them is not unbelievable.

LuMaria 1

Corrected entry: At the end of the movie, Father Merrin loses the statue head it gets buried in the sand, he is in Africa. When statue head is found in the original Exorcist, it was found in Iraq.

Correction: That's because the head is a demonic idol that has evil supernatural powers. Right after the sand blows over it there is a shot of Father Merrin searching through the sand for it to no avail. He digs much deeper into the sand than he should have had to, which leads us to believe the idol wanted to be lost. With such powers it could easily have made it's way to Iraq in a matter of years.

Corrected entry: During the first scene in the buried church, as the young priest examines the defiled crucifix, he is nearly head to head with the figure of Jesus. When Merrin travels to the church alone, the defiled crucifix is hanging much higher up.

Correction: The cross being higher is a sign of the evil growing stronger.

Factual error: In the very beginning of the film, the priest is walking through a battlefield that contains the bodies of Roman soldiers (they are wearing distinctive Roman uniforms and armor), which dates the battle no later than 6th century AD. He is holding a rosary in his hand, but the rosary wasn't introduced into the Catholic Church until the 13th century.

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Trivia: Stellan Skarsgard, at age 53 when filming this movie, is nearly a decade older than Max von Sydow was at the time of filming the original movie (age 44), but is playing a younger version of the character.

Macalou

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Question: When first entering the church, Father Francis wonders about the weapons depicted pointing down. What is the significance of where the weapons are pointing?

Answer: Weapons on statues in conventional churches point upwards in veneration. The weapons here are pointing downwards in an offensive gesture.

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