A movie called Requiem opening tomorrow at the Belcourt creeped me the hell out, no pun intended. Not because it's inspired by a supposedly true account of demonic possession—the case of Anneliese Michel, a young German woman who died after a grueling exorcism in 1976—but because the girl's torment is depicted in a way that equally undermines science and religion, leaving only the terrifying evidence of her anguish.
That may not make Requiem a horror movie in the traditional sense, but the way it manages to undercut your certainty about what's really happening to the girl is genuinely unnerving. Thanks to Sandra Huller, a German stage actress making an amazing starring debut, the movie calls into question exactly what is being hurdled in a leap of faith: the evidence of one's eyes, one's heart or one's reason. See it if you get a chance.
