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Reviews
Commandments (1997)
Doesn't Anyone Read the Bible Anymore?
Buy this movie and put it in your library. If you do not like it when viewing it for the first time, you will.
This film may not make sense if you do not have at least some knowledge of the Hebrew Bible. The theme is a retelling ("midrashically speaking") of the Book of Job. Hence, it is about dealing with innocent suffering, the classic theodicy problem. All of us can identify with Quinn's character. When bad things happen to "good" people, it must be God's fault. How better to describe his despair than the comment that his shoelaces have broken every day for a year! In his mind, only God could arrange such misfortune, and he is probably right about that! Like the Book of Job, the theme turns on itself in the end. The "belly of the whale" scene copied from Joshua is pretty transparent but delicious in a way.
Quinn's solution to his dilemma is pretty creative. I can only hope that his character does not start a trend of copycats.
The Good Shepherd (2006)
Stayed on the dark side
On the conscious level, there was no real reason for releasing this movie. This was no spy thriller. A long movie with no character showing any positive qualities tests the patience of the most devoted movie fan. The characters were not even enjoyably evil, like in Sin City. They were just boring. The characters were created by someone writing from their shadow (Jungian), which is why they came out so unattractive.
This movie was more likely written at the unconscious level, and written there for a purpose. The CIA was portrayed as the source of evil and incompetence. They were selected to be the fall guy for America's foreign policy failures, particularly the Bay of Pigs. This strategy takes the politicians off the hook for bungling decisions about national security. I would imagine that leaders of both parties would support using the CIA as the fall guy for bad decisions. It is left to the observer to determine who will benefit most from a public who actually is influenced by this movie.