Boorman and the Devil

This is a documentary about the making of Exorcist II: The Heretic, a film directed by John Boorman. It's also a film retrospective of Boorman's work. If you are a film nerd, you will love it. But even if you're not, or maybe you just haven't seen any of his work yet, the film serves as commentary on why we make art in the first place. What are we doing as artists? What does success look like, and in this case, what is a failure? Exorcist II: The Heretic was one of the biggest film flops that Hollywood has ever seen. A disaster. The Mayfair was showing it on alternate nights with the Boorman documentary. (I went and saw it. Not entirely disastrous. I actually enjoyed a good portion of the film.) Before The Heretic, Boorman had made Deliverance, and it was nominated for Best Picture of 1973. After that, he was Hollywood A-list material. If anyone could make a sequel to the ginormous smash hit that was The Exorcist, it was Boorman. However, he didn't want to make a traditional sequel; he wanted to go in an all new direction. Something completely different. And he did. Audiences hated it. The production of the film was shut down for over five weeks because Boorman fell ill due to inhaling some bacteria found in dirt. It was brought in for swirling wind scenes set in Africa. Boorman could have died. The film was running out of time and the ending was rewritten. Multiple times. More disasters. A mess. Then it opened and critics and audiences hated it. Boorman almost quit making movies. Thankfully he didn't. As a writer and artist myself, I appreciate those who are willing to take risks and give us something new, something we have never seen before. It takes guts. Boorman is such an artist. This portrait of failure is a success. Catch it in a theatre if you can or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff here in Ottawa.