Gogol would have not done better

Rating: 8/10 (7 May 2005)

In the classic Russian literature you find several writers always asking themselves about the dilemma between God and the Evil, one of them was Gogol, much more idealistic than Dostoyevski. This film reminded me Gogol, from time to time Dostoyevski's "Brothers Karamazov", and also José Saramago's "Jesus Christ Gospel" because of its strong religious argument probably arguable according to each one'believes. It is true XX century belongs to evil, too many wars and disasters. The modernization and industrialization haven't prevented the problem instead the situation became tougher and troublesome all over. The vanity of the man goes beyond simple ambitious of moderate wealth, he/she always wants more and more, not taking into account that there are others having nothing, just surviving or living for a while. This film goes deep into these matters, and is worth to be seen by all, particularly in industrialized societies. Al Pacino was the real evil, but a reasonable one, his arguments unfortunately were not debated as I would like; Keanu Reeves played the role of an ambitious lawyer, who knows everything and wins all processes, he killed his family, his feelings and his life, while Charlize Theron was the victim of this disgrace. It is advisable to read the novel of Andrew Neiderman before seen the film. In any case, the director Taylor Hackford was able to assemble well the plot and scenes of this film full of morale.