question about the church in exorcist III

A spooky scene to get you settled into the mood of the film and hopefully freak you out a little…

The story isn’t that deep. The true force behind the papers is very debatable.

Make of it whatever you wish.

I interpret the beginning scenes of Legion as a dream-like symbolism, most likely originating in Karras’ mind. As in dreams, time-sequencing is blurred. These scenes are probably from Karras’ point of view because this is established in his own narration, “I remember a rose, and a fall down a long flight of steps”, and the camera moving down the deserted Georgetown street is from the narrator’s point of view.

Then, having exposited the scene as an internalization of Karras, Karras himself actually appears twice. Careful observation reveals a running figure dressed in a priest’s cassock darting from left to right. Then, a few seconds later, the same priestly figure darts across the street again, this time from right to left.

Likely this represents Karras’ memory – or his interpretation – of the night of the exorcism when his body was being invaded by The Gemini-Pazuzu.

He remembers – or at least seems to think of himself – as running wildly around the MacNeil’s neighborhood. And it is certainly the MacNeil’s neighborhood, because the street that the camera is panning down leads directly to the MacNeil house on the right, with the platform of the Hitchcock Steps straight ahead.

Therefore I would similarly interpret the wind blowing through the church as Karras’ own mental metaphor for a demonic force invading a sacred space – a visual analogy for the invasion of Karras’ own saintly person by The Gemini-Pazuzu.

Since we know that Pazuzu is represented by the (southwest) wind, surely the church-wind implies Pazuzu’s presence.

This is re-iterated later in the film when a demonic force invades another sacred space – namely, Fr. Morning’s room: the bird he has been caring for suddenly dies, and the same kind of paper-blowing tempest that was earlier present in the church begins to blow through his own room. Obviously, this is the demonic/Pazuzu force manifesting itself again. Schrader uses this wind-analogy at the beginning of Dominion, where, in his confrontation with the Nazi officer, Merrin’s cassock is blown about by a sudden wind.

I think the entire “prologue” to Legion – including the church-wind – is a highly symbolical narrative meant to express Karras’ dark, confused mental state on the night of the exorcism.

Thanks, Blizzi… I might modify it, however, based on input from Justin and probably some others, that the scene may not be the actual exorcism night, but maybe the point at which “Patient X” was finally “captured” wandering the C&O Canal. But I would continue to view these scenes as a dreamlike, symbolic, metaphorical mix of Karras’ own confused memories and experiences.