a different view

Rating: 10/10 (4 December 2011)

I thought the movie is great, but i did not see it as many people do. I did not see it as a way to put a dilemma between good and evil, but to show us how easy is for us to lose control over to the demonic forces.
One of the first parts that you see if you look close enough is that the two main characters (the couple) are gradually changed by the people around them (that are portrayed as demonic minions) to become as them. The first change is when the wife wants a green wall, but the evil neighbor convinces her to go with another color. Then we see as the times passes by that the matter if the husbands clients are guilty or not or how horrific their crime is becomes less and less important to him. The only thing that matters becomes to win, or rather said have the impression he won.
The second is a vague sentence the devil utters while he kills one of his subordinates: "People have reached a point where they consider they are they're own god. This world is out of control". This means the pride of the people in this world has become so great that they have no more control over themselves , but they become easily controllable by him.
In the end the devil presents his defends, where he mixes truth with lie to become the innocent one. He says that God gave humans the instinct to do evil, the free will to do it , but commanded him not to. Although it is true God gave humans the power to choose between good and evil, he did not gave man the "instinct" to do bad. To give a quote from the Bible "our fight is not against flesh and blood (i.e it is not in our nature to be evil) but against the dominions , the powers and the principalities of the darkness of this age that inhabit the skies (i.e. the temptations and illusion the devil creates)". Next the main character asks the devil one important question: "Why should I bother, since you are destined to lose?" The devil answers: "Yeah, but look against whom we go against!". Another important question is: "What do I have to gain in this?" The devil answers: "Everything you want. Happiness as tap water.". In reality this is a lie. The devil can only give a faded illusion of happiness or pleasure. If you leave the things settle just a bit the illusion starts to fade and it becomes bitterness. Also this is only for a limited amount of time.
Another part is the now famous "look but don't touch..." that being attributed to God. In fact this the devil's mo. He understand you cannot transform a man who loves his wife into a person that could cheat without remorse (for instance) in one move. He does things gradually: first he says: "It is OK to look, you are not doing anything bad" then "it is okay to have sexual fantasies with that person it is just natural" then "it is OK to make an 'innocent' sexual joke once in a while" then "it is okay, just happened once, you where a little drunk, the wife was ignoring you, don't worry about having sex with someone once". then says: "If you did once why would it be wrong do do it again? and again? and again?..." and in the end he says: "don't you see it is in your nature? you cannot get rid of this behavior! You might as well enjoy it!"
At the end the devil is asked "What about love?" Since the devil cannot actually experience rue love anymore he answers it is overrated changing the notion of love with the notion of sexual attraction.