A beyond -ingenious- critique on religion... using the "Three Wise Men"!

Rating: 8/10 (19 June 2014)

I'm just getting into Eastwood films; I have no bias whatsoever. I did notice the crucifix/religious motif throughout the film, and started to assess its significance. Upon a quick Google search, it can be confirmed that Clint Eastwood is "on the fence" about religion. In fact, he says himself: "I couldn't believe that God would be a great sadist in the sky, getting pleasure out of, 'If you screw up, I'm going to bust you, boy'. That's a way of keeping people in line, I guess".
There were three friends in this story. Immediately, the biblical story of "The Three Wise Men" came into mind. I started to play around with the idea, and made a gargantuan of a discovery.
At the end of the story, Jimmy (Sean Penn)'s wife dubs Jimmy as a "king". In the tale of The Three Wise Men, there is a king named King Herod. This represents Jimmy. Now, this is Jimmy's second wife. The second wife of King Herod was Mariamne I. Mariamne I had 4 children: two sons, Alexandros and Aristobulus (executed in 7 BCE), and two daughters, Salampsio and Cypros. How many daughters did Jimmy's wife have with Jimmy in the movie? Jimmy quotes: "we got two girls waiting at home wondering where their sister is".
The tale of "The Three Wise Men" takes place when Jesus was born. Jimmy's daughter will represent Jesus. Though "three men" are involved in the story, the Bible doesn't state that there were exclusively three. Following this reasoning, the 3(+) men will represent the officers and detectives at the crime scene.
In the Bible, these men meet with the King Herod, in an attempt to locate baby Jesus for the king's worship. They didn't know where he was, but they planned to find him by following a star "in the east". This is why there are so many upward shots of the sky in the film. Where does the setting take place? In Massachusetts; the east! In the film, after the detectives briefly met with Jimmy, they leave to find "the baby" --- Jimmy's daughter.
When the wise men finally find baby Jesus, they withhold this information from King Herod. Initially, in the movie, the officers and detectives did just that. But why was this information held from Herod in the biblical story? Herod feared that the baby would become better than him. The wise men didn't want the baby to be harmed. Note that Jimmy said: "That first night out of the joint, after Marita died, I was more afraid of my little daughter than I ever was of being in prison". Also consider that the name "Marita" is similar to the name Mary; the mother of Jesus.
When the wise men left, an angel appeared to Joseph. Joseph will represent Brendan, Katie's "boyfriend". In the bible, Joseph was to take Mary and Jesus to runaway to Egypt. Back to the movie, Brendan was initially planning to runaway with Katie to Las Vegas.
The angel ordered Joseph to wait in Egypt, as Herod would come to look for and "kill" baby Jesus. Take this more figuratively when applying it to the film. If Katie went missing, Jimmy would most definitely look for, and "kill her" if she was found with Brendan. Joseph left with Mary and Jesus in the middle of the night, so no one would see them. So did Katie and Brendan.
In the end, Sean (Kevin Bacon) does a finger point and shoot at Jimmy. He does this, because King Herod dies shortly thereafter.
Lastly, consider the title of the movie. "Mystic River". Dave (Tim Robbins)'s body was thrown in a river. In Revelations 16:12, the Bible states: "The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east". Here, "kings from the east" represents law enforcement in Boston.
All I can say is... W-O-W. I would've never realized this film's merit if I hadn't uncovered the plot. The movie was serious, somber, sadistic and surreal... but this is exactly what Eastwood was going for, considering his views on religion.
I leave this review with an acclaimed description of King Herod the Great: "prepared to commit any crime in order to gratify his unbounded ambition".