(I "Dancing Barefoot" by Patti Smith)
(whispered chant) Devil girl.
Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed alt thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinn...
(Catherine) No'.!
(radio) Our Lord told John that we'd see messengers travelling to and from heaven.
However, it's unlikely that a holy messenger
would take the form of the likes of this.
I can't thank you enough for taking time away
from your family to help me out with this.
I'd do anything for you. Plus, it gives Jordan
and Frank time to spend with Frank's dad.
Are you still having a rough time?
Our separation never meant that Frank and I didn't love each other.
Just the opposite, in fact.
We're getting stronger, as a family.
You got that therapist look down pat.
Do I really?
- It's hard to tell with the kids. - It is hard. I've worked with children.
Children can't be put into convenient little boxes any more.
Which is good on the one hand because they shouldn't be, but...
on the other hand, Cath...
it makes me nervous.
Kids seem to know so much about the world these days,
but they're growing up without role models,
and knowing too much makes them reject responsibility.
Even their own parents don't take responsibility for them.
More often than not, I've been a convenient scapegoat.
Five girls claim to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary.
The ultimate role model.
And you don't believe them?
It's appalling, isn't it?
I just instantly thought, "Why?"
Why would the Virgin Mary appear to these ordinary,
to my mind, unworthy teenagers?
- I... I was... - Jealous.
You have still got that insight that made you Dr Hill's favourite student.
I just wore tight sweaters to class.
Actually, Cath, I need your help because...
I'm afraid that I do believe them.
Clare McKenna, leader of the pack.
Fighting, smoking, cutting class, petty theft.
Not the type you'd expect to channel religious visions.
Clare's problems started a few years back when her mother died.
Now the other girls have become isolated from their peers.
This secret thing that these girls have created makes them special.
So special that they're celebrities. Nobody in town is unaffected.
Even my secretary is convinced that the Virgin is speaking through Clare.
The other girls with this secret thing are Kelly Celaya - into horses,
Shelley Larrabure - future rocket scientist,
Leslie King - planning to out-Salinger Salinger,
and Maureen Regan - into serial killers.
- Why'd you cover that up? - Didn't turn out right.
I think it's wonderful. Is it a thoroughbred?
- How'd you know? - I always wanted a horse.
All my friends had horses,
but the closest I ever got was drawing them.
Course, my drawings always looked like a log with a mane and a tail.
I guess you could see almost anything in it if you were looking for it.
When I was 12, a friend's mom saw Jesus in a loaf of bread.
Maybe she did see something and now we'll never know.
I'd like to help you, if you'll let me.
Reverend Hanes was reading from the book of John.
Chapter six, verse 36 - after the loaves and the fishes.
He was preaching about how Jesus was the bread of life.
If we'd only believe in Jesus, we'd never go hungry again.
Reverend Hanes said the apostles saw Jesus, but they didn't believe.
He said nonbelievers go to hell.
It was scary.
Then it wasn't scary.
There was a light and it moved.
All of a sudden, there she was.
- We saw her. - I see her.
Clare started the Hail Mary. It just... it felt right.
Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee...
Reverend Hanes didn't see her.
Clare said Mary would never appear to someone like him.
Pray for us sinners, now and in the hour of our death.
He said we were sent from Satan.
Can we talk again later?
It wasn't John, it was Matthew. My dad's the preacher.
It was verse 25, about the maidens and the bridegroom and preparing for Judgment Day.
(giggling)
Shh.
Finally, my Dad took notice. He said this was their last warning.
And that's when it happened.
- I see her. - "I see her."
Girls.
That's what she said. And now everybody thinks that she is divine.
But she's not.
She's going to hell.
(radio) I would never dream of blaming the family,
but! Believe Clare McKenna's problems stem directly from the fact
that she's being raised by a single parent.
Nobody can see the truth.
Truth?
- About Clare. - And that truth being?
Well, I guess that's what you'll find out.
- Not now, you're not. - I have an appointment with Clare.
Well, you'll have to wait till the other lady finishes her questioning.
"The visionary does not see with the soul or the spirit,
but with the mind that exists between these two."
"That is what sees the vision."
"And that is what..."
I'll bet you'd love to know what comes next.
Nobody knows what comes next.
Those passages are missing.
Why didn't you tell me they were involved?
I wasn't consulted.
I don't even know what the hell the Millennium Group is.
Neither do I, but I know they have their own agenda,
which is not in the best interest of the girls.
Through the years we've investigated many apparitions. Lourdes, Marpingen, Fétima.
In each case, young girls were the recipient of messages...
Young girls whose bodies are changing and who feel isolated.
Visionaries at Medjugorje receive messages from the Virgin
and similarities among the sightings are...
So alien abduction exists because abductees report similar experiences?
The Virgin appeared to Washington at Valley Forge
and showed him the future of America. Without any faith.
It's unclear how you can be objective when
you've made up your mind she's a visionary.
You've already made up your mind that she isn't.
Interesting how reactive religious hostility
is following predictable gender lines.
Looks like the first hour of every school dance I went to.
If somebody put on KISS and cranked up "Beth", we'd resolve any gender issues.
I'd have to disagree.
Slow dance of choice would absolutely have to be Journey, "Open Arms".
OK. I need a volunteer to read.
Somebody else?
"Jesus said 'As God is my witness, you'll see the sky open
and God's messengers travelling to and from the sons of Adam.“
"Jesus said he'd show us wonders if we only believed what we saw."
She's supposed to read, not make stuff up!
"I know the first ones and those after them know me."
That is not from the Bible! That comes from Satan!
"I am the power of the powers in my knowledge of the angels
who have been sent at my word."
(chanting) Devil girl. Devil girl. Devil girl.
Alex. Alex. Boys, stop this.
Devil girl...
"I am peace, and war has come because of me."
"I am the first and the last. The alpha and the omega."
"I am the beginning and I am the end."
(chanting continues) Devil girl. Devil girl. Devil girl. Devil girl...
"I am the first and I am the last."
(Lara) She's formidable, Peter.
(Peter) And him? What about him?
Arrived July 221982.
(Peter) The day she was born.
Having confirmed that a member of the Family
is here, I doubt my ability to stand by.
When Darwin published his theory of evolution, people lost faith.
Some committed suicide.
Are you saying we face that possibility now?
Just remember why you're here.
- Is Catherine's presence a problem? - No.
She'd never believe in what we know.
(children's laughter)
You don't believe me.
I haven't had a chance to make up my mind.
My dad thinks I'm trying to get attention.
Are you?
Right. What my friends and I want is our
parents paying attention to everything we do.
Clare, I was wondering about something you said at the prayer circle.
I used to be a chronicler, like you. Only, I believed.
Then I got tested, like you.
- And I didn't believe. - Tested?
By the man who took all the pictures of you.
The one who told you the truth.
Clare?
Are you all right?
You think she's a visionary.
All I see is a child getting a kick out of turning this town upside down.
- A child who can recite Gnostic text. - That wasn't from the Bible?
Before Emperor Constantine even became a Christian in 337,
he ordered the confiscation and destruction of all works
that challenged orthodox Christianity, as set forth by the council of Nicaea in 325.
The Gnostic texts were excluded from the Bible
for, among other things, promoting the idea that Mary Magdalene was Christ's witness
and the only apostle who truly understood Christ's teachings.
Clare was reciting from The Thunder, Perfect Mind.
It's fascinating. Page after page of contradictions.
"I am the virgin and the whore. The mother and the daughter."
- "The alpha and the omega." - That one she tacked on.
So, she doesn't have any idea of what she's saying?
Before launching into that, she parroted a speech the preacher gave this morning.
If all hell hadn't broken loose, maybe she would have added:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times", just to keep things lively.
Are you Mr McKenna?
- We're... - I know who you are.
Clare's gonna pitch a fit when she finds out about this.
I understand your concern,
but looking at Clare's belongings,
finding out about her interests will tell us more about her than she'll verbalise.
If you say so. Ever since this started it's
like half the town is fighting over Clare.
Preacher Hanes is all over TV with promises about driving evil out of town.
Miss Shetterly thinks she's some case study.
What does Clare think about that?
Clare looks at the inkblots and tells Miss Shetterly she sees God waving at her.
What do you think about that?
Grown people want to act like jackasses, waiting for a divine message from a child,
they deserve whatever foolishness she comes up with.
(Clare) She came to me today.
Tell me about Ben Fisher.
- The drama teacher? Why? - He's given her a lot of books.
Ben Fisher's the only one not out to get something from Clare.
He's been good to her, gave her the lead in the school play.
Told me she was great at memorising lines.
What's that?
Well, it... it's a black Virgin.
It's believed to be part of a religion that can be traced back to the first century.
They're usually associated with natural phenomenon, ley lines, places of power.
Legend has it that they become very heavy if moved against their will.
Don't you dare touch her!
I'm sorry if we upset you, Clare, but we need to understand.
No, you don't. You want to prove I didn't see anything.
You think I made my friends say that they saw something.
I won't lie to you. I think it's a possibility.
Maybe you and your friends thought that you saw something
and you believed in it so much other people began to believe too.
You're trying to make sure she doesn't believe it. You do see.
But not the angel.
Your angel. You don't see him here.
How do you know?
I was lost afterwards.
Clare?
I go to the garden, but he's not there.
Where have they taken him?
The gardenefs there and I ask him, but...
as I turn...
I realise it's not the gardener.
I'd seen him die three days earlier.
Just give her some time.
Lara.
- She shouldn't be alone right now. - I do hope you mean Clare.
(door opens)
Mr Fisher?
My name is Catherine Black, and this is Lara Means.
There's been an upswing in psychologists on campus.
(Catherine) I understand you've been a mentor to Clare.
- (Fisher) She's a student. - You've given her a lot of books.
(Fisher) She's an unusual student. She likes to read.
(Catherine) Stories about isolated children with special powers and destinies.
Clare scares people. They can't accept that
a higher power would speak through a child.
But you can?
She has a gift that frightens people so much,
it's considered a curse.
(phone rings)
- Hello? - (McKenna) Mrs Black? She's gone.
Taken that statue and rounded up her friends.
She was so upset. I don't know what to do.
Clare's run away.
- She's taken them to the woods. - How do you know?
The power's there.
We're wasting our time. We won't find them.
We have to keep looking.
I left Frank because I wouldn't stand for the secrecy over the Millennium Group.
I certainly won't put up with it from you.
Not in the middle of the night in the freezing woods.
Not when those girls need my help.
Now, either you tell me what you know, or what you believe,
or I'm leaving you here.
You're on your own. Just like Frank Black.
Clare has been collecting her disciples.
That vision in the church wasn't the Virgin Mary.
That was Mary Magdalene, looking for someone in the garden.
Mary Magdalene was the first witness at the
Resurrection, recognising the risen Christ.
If the black Virgin was meant to be the Magdalene...
Lara, you're just seeing what you want to see.
I felt Clare go into the past.
(Clare) He knows I wouldn't leave him, doesn't he?
- Lara? - (Clare) I have to find him.
He's not dead.
Not dead.
(Fisher) You're right. He's alive.
(Catherine) What the hell's going on here?
Mr Fisher, please step away.
There must be a sacrifice. Don't touch her.
Leave him alone!
You don't understand. We have to do this. We have to.
- Sweetheart. - No. You can't stop us.
We have to finish it. And you have to write it down.
(thunder)
This happens when you allow denizens of hell into your heart.
- He's not a cliché. - We must end this godlessness.
I demand to baptise these girls in the name of Jesus Christ our Saviour
before Satan has the chance to worm his way any further into their hearts.
"Make ready the ways of the Lord. Make his paths straight."
I baptise thee in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost.
No!
(congregation murmurs)
(all gasp and mutter)
Mother, forgive them. They know not what they do.
His words.
- Clare believed she was being crucified. - Course not.
Christians hold that plea sacred.
Clare holds it sacred too.
How would you feel if you were baptised against your will
by a religion who transformed Mary Magdalene of the Gnostic texts,
the apostle of the apostle, into a mere prostitute?
You've seen this before.
Working with the Millennium Group.
No.
I've seen. That's why the Group wants me. That's why they want Frank.
I've had the experience my entire life.
But not like this. Not like Clare.
She seems to understand what's happening to her. Who she is.
I envy her strength
as I fear my growing weakness.
- Will Frank grow weaker? - What Frank sees is also different.
He uses his ability, manipulates it to see evil, to feel it.
I never know where evil lies, only that it exists.
Don't leave him alone, Catherine.
These visions are so isolating.
Lately they seem to prey on my loneliness,
driving me to...
an inevitability.
And if it's true for me then it will be true for Frank.
Unless you're there.
If it's true,
and I'm not willing to believe that everything you've said is true...
I need greater proof.
And I'm not willing to let this little girl be a Millennium test case.
Or a personal one for me or for you.
Clare is not Frank or me.
Who she is or could be is out of the control of the Group.
Regardless of what happened in there,
telling her that she's blessed or cursed with visions,
I don't see an upside to that.
Catherine.
There's nothing you can do about it.
I can let Clare know that she's not alone in this.
Did you check the church for a projector? It'd be easy to set that up.
- I know who you are. - Then we're even.
Since the Group and the Family split, this is our first time knocking heads
and, honestly, I am not that impressed.
I expected someone more formidable.
Instead, I get a candidate fumbling in the dark,
so obviously afraid, not only of what she knows, but of what she doesn't know.
I know enough to recognise that the role that you're playing is a lie,
and that your only agenda is that of the Family.
My only agenda is to help Clare understand who she is.
You're her selfless, pious guardian, is that it?
You're angry.
Damn right. You're taking advantage of a...
Be honest, Miss Means, you're angry because you're jealous.
Imagine,
at 15 to have had someone completely understand you. Someone to explain.
What is it you see?
Angels? Demons? The future?
Angels, then.
But your angel's abandoned you, hasn't he?
You've been without his guidance ever since you came into this town.
You fear him, but you rely on him, but he's afraid.
Afraid of the presence of a higher power.
The Magdalene?
I... I need to know.
You lied before. You don't know anything about me.
They won't be able to hold me, you know.
"If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you."
"If you do not bring forth what is within you,
what you do not bring forth will destroy you."
It's happening. You can't say it's not happening. You saw.
What I saw could have dozens of explanations.
It only has one.
She came to me when I needed her.
And you've taken Mr Fisher away. And they won't let me talk to him.
He's not the only one who cares about you.
He's the only one who understands.
You've all been shown, but you don't believe.
Look, I don't know the truth about what you've seen,
but whatever it is, whatever it means,
you can't let it keep you apart from the world.
You were born to live here, not in some mystical place inside your mind.
Maybe you have been given a gift, I don't know.
But we're all given gifts every day,
in things that we might think are just ordinary.
I'm not Jordan.
(phone rings)
- Watts. - It's Lara.
Now that I'm sure about who he is, I can't just watch this happen.
We've watched worse things happen with less reason. You have identified him?
- Yeah, I spoke to him. - And the girl?
After all we've been through, you just have to trust it's the right thing.
I can't, Peter.
It would be murder.
(hangs up)
Where's Fisher?
- He's not in jail? - You didn't bail him out?
- Why would I? - You tell me.
Something bad's gonna happen. I gotta find him before it does.
It's after three, so Clare's probably gone to the prayer circle, right?
That's where Fisher will go for the sacrifice?
You can't stop it. You don't understand.
You have known what's going on all along.
Why were you sent?
Who is he?
My husband couldn't tell me I was being stalked,
I don't suppose you can tell me why a
similar psychopath is stalking a little girl.
The Millennium Group doesn't uncover truths, Lara. It buries them.
- My responsibility... - My responsibility is to the child.
Ours is too.
(I "Dancing Barefoot" by Patti Smith)
- Hail, Mary, full of grace... - Clare, what are you doing?
Blessed alt thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners...
No!
(screaming)
- Does Jesus love her more than me? - No, Alex, no.
He jumped right in front of her.
(Alex) I was just trying to scare her.
(sobbing)
"The star of the sea..."
Moves today...
"to its rising."
No.
Was all this really necessary?
Ben Fisher's death?
The life of that boy ruined?
And Clare...
I believe so, yeah.
Fisher was at odds with the Group, but he was right too.
There had to be a sacrifice in order to set certain events in motion.
So, your belief in some twisted destiny allows you to justify your inaction?
Whatever I did, Catherine, no matter howl manipulated certain events,
Fisher was gonna die in this classroom today. Think about it.
What sent Clare to that prayer circle today? Was it fate?
Was it destiny? Or was it you?
So, Fisher's death leaves Clare with no one to guide her toward her destiny...
toward revealing Mary Magdalene's message to the world?
It was never about the message. It was about
the messenger. Fisher was here for a reason.
Tradition and our research confirms that descendants of the Merovingian dynasty,
the family whose job it is to protect the
Holy Grail, bear this mark. Like Ben Fisher.
A thousand years ago, the Millennium Group and the Family shared a vision.
Over time that vision changed, inevitably prompting a split between the two groups.
The Shroud of Turin was carbon-dated and found to be from the 14th century.
Some believe...
that Clare McKenna is the descendant of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene,
whom he took as his apostle, his witness and his wife.
Who believes that?
The Family?
The Group?
Someone has to decide whether to release this information.
If you think that's an easy burden to live with, you are very, very wrong.
But this is what I do.
This is who we are.
- Why are you giving this to me? - I don't trust the Group enough
to believe that they should be holding all the cards.
I guess now it's your deal.
He gave this to me.
I thought he might have.
He said it was a picture of the Virgin Mary
finding out she's going to be God's mother.
It's a picture of the very second she understands.
She knows that she's very special.
She knows her life is ruined.
"She will come in a boat, like the daughters of Danaus
and the Virgin of Bologne-sur-mer."
"(Fisher)" She fed the saint, which inspired the warrior monks
to dig up the stable of a thousand horses
and take their treasure to help the angels build the churches.'
“Their treasure returned to Bethania and at
the cutting of the elm, they asked themselves:
'Whom does one serve by virtue of sewing the Grail?“
“Thus, the sorcerer kings become the Family.'
(Clare) "She suffered every indignity from them"
and she could not return to the father.“
"In a human body she came to be confined."
“And thus, from age to age, she passed from body to body,
into one female body after the other.“
“Thus she became the lost sheep.“
Visiontext Subtitles: Katherine Appleby
(child) I made this!
ENGLISH SDH