Diminishing Damnation

Years ago, a friend told me the only good scene in 1976's The Omen is near the beginning, when Damien's nanny kills herself. Now that I've finally seen the movie, I'm inclined to agree.

There are a number of good performances in the film. Gregory Peck, David Warner, and particularly Patrick Troughton as a priest in a constant state of panic and dread, are all fantastic. But the whole film is hampered by one central problem--we never get an impression of Robert's (Peck) relationship with Damien (Harvey Spencer Stephens).

Part of the reason the nanny suicide scene works is that it's natural at that point in the film that we don't know much about the main characters. The film establishes a normal five year old's birthday party. It's quite jarring when a woman just established as a caring and apparently normal nanny is suddenly standing on a balcony and proclaiming her love for the boy before hanging herself.

But after this, as Robert slowly investigates warnings and clues, the lack of any established relationship between himself and his adopted son diminishes the internal dilemma he's supposed to be wrestling with. I can understand if maybe they wanted to minimise the use of a child actor in horrific scenes, but scenes of the two bonding normally would have helped tremendously. Some scenes of Robert trying to understand Damien's behaviour by relating it to his own childhood or getting impressions from a psychologist would have been nice. Damien really needed to be more of a character in this film.

The Omen is available on HBOMax.

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A dizzy road exists beyond the ground.
A sea of tar consumes the endless man.
The oiled line would scream beneath a sound.
A louder noise than all the guns of Pan.
A pair of quiet ties have sought a neck.
But only one can turn the chest to straw.
The veins convey a drowsy type of wreck.
The sleeping dog can dream its razor paw.
Admit the heavy socks were moral feet.
A truth was facing time for stealing toes.
Defined in loss we kept a pace to beat.
Without a foot the bunny chose to pose.
The awkward dog was nothing bad to fear.
The menace dies in weakly watered beer.