Director: Kevin Reynolds
Screenplay: Jay Wolpert
Starring: Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce, Richard Harris, Dagmara Domincyzk,
James Frain, Luis Guzman, Michael Wincott, Albie Woodington
Tag Line: Prepare for adventure, count on revenge

Distributor: Buena Vista

Release: April 2002

Certificate: PG

key themes Justice, revenge, suffering, friendship, family, faithfulness,
betrayal, envy, love, identity, social class

Went to see this movie with a group of friends, and we all enjoyed this 13th film remake of Alexandre Dumas'romantic novel "The Count of Monte Cristo"....Well, there was one part of this theater experience I didn't enjoy much: getting busted for allegedly sneaking 'contraband' food items into the theatre. It's true ,my bag was bulging with forbidden treats for several members of our theater party... I will mention no names.

The Count of Monte Cristo has been filmed in different languages and five different TV movies and series. the first version came out in 1908 as a silent film. The previous American version of the classic was made in 1934 and starred Robert Dunat. Other film adaptations have starred Richard Chamberlain and Gerard Depardieu.(as a French buff, I would love to see this version, which came out on video tape in 2001.The Depardeui rendering has several cassettes and costs about $70 on sale.)

Polish newcomer Dagmara Domincysk, did excellent work as the heroine. I really liked her refreshing non-Hollywood look and style. We will be hearing much more of her in future films, I believe. Jim Kavezil (from nearby Mt. Vernon Washington)performed well also in the film, as the hero Edmond Dantes and likewise has an original look and style that doesn't say "made in Hollywood."

The villain Fernand Mondego is menacingly played by Guy Pierce. He is the character at the heart of the conspiracy against Edmond Dantes, who in the story is wrongfully arrested for treason and murder. After 16 years he escapes looking for revenge on the people who set him up. In prison he was befriended and educated by Faria, a fellow prisoner and former priest, who tells Edmond where to find a vast trove of treasure.

Edmond joins a crew of smugglers, and gains the loyalty of Jacopo, whose life he saves. In time Edmond and Jacopo retrieve the treasure and Edmond learns that all his enemies are now in Paris. He assumes the false identity of the Count of Monte Cristo (the island where the treasure was hidden) and becomes a member of Parisian society.

Edmond manages to take revenge on all of his rivals, before a final confrontation with the evil natured Fernand Mondego.

Director Reynods said that with this film he tried to ask the question of whether revenge restores wholeness.'I wanted to get to a place where Edmond Dantes has to realise that, if he's going to enjoy the rest of his life, he has to come to terms with it and put behind him what has happened to him.'Before Edmond gets to this place, he destroys the lives of all those who betrayed him, making sure they knew who it was who destroyed them and why. During the film, Edmond is repeatedly urged by friends to 'forgive and forget' and simply enjoy his life, but he won't be swayed.

Director Reynold's story ending differs from that of Alexandre Dumas.In the film version Edmond ignores the priest Farias's advice, and gets his revenge. The film concludes with Edmond Dantes,feeling satisfied and content, though he does concede that Farias was right. In contrast the original book has Dantes dissappearing,leaving only a letter saying that he has realised that 'in God's hands alone reside supreme power and infinite wisdom', and advising others to live and be happy, and to 'wait and hope' until 'God deigns to unveil the future to mankind'. the author's ending seems to this reviewer more consistent with the theme, but does not ofcourse provide the obligatory "Hollywood ending."

Rating 3 1/2 stars.

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