Classic Tale of Betrayal and Revenge -- The Count of Monte Cristo

Set in France after Napoleon's imprisonment on the Isle of Elba, this most recent version of Dumas classic story, The Count of Monte Cristo, was very impressive from beginning to end.

The story centers around two men, Edmond Dantes and Fernand Mondego, played by Jim Caviezel and Guy Pearce respectively and their life long friendship which goes horribly, horribly wrong.

When the film opens we are first introduced to Dantes and Mondego as they are approaching the Isle of Elba to seek medical attention for the gravely ill captain of their ship. Upon reaching the island, we learn that the British, who are serving as Napoleon's warders, have this annoying tendency to attack anyone who lands on the isle for fear they are coming to free Napoleon from his captivity. As such, a fight between Edmond, Fernand, and the soldiers breaks out. This scene is pretty much a stock fight scene, with the two friends saving one another from certain death. Although it should be said Mondego is the far more skillful of the two during the fight. Eventually Napoleon intervenes, and stops the fight, by convincing the British that Mondego and Dantes are not there to free him.

During the night, Napoleon summons Dantes to come see him and gives him a letter to be given to, as he puts it, "An old comrade", Dantes, after an initial hesitation, agrees to deliver the letter, after Napoleon assures him it is nothing more than a letter to an old friend, if only Dantes had listen to his initial doubts. Mondego witnesses Napoleon giving the letter to Dantes, and for reasons which are unclear at the time, becomes even more jealous of Edmond.

Upon their return to Marseille, Edmond is denounced by the ship's First Mate Danglars to the owner of the shipping line, for going against his orders and landing on Elba to seek medical attention for the captain. The owner, however, quickly sides with Edmond on the matter and promotes him to captain for making that decision. Thus, making Danglars jealous. It seems Edmond is making enemies, even though he does not yet realize this.

Edmond, upon being promoted, goes and seeks out his fiancee Mercedes (Dagmara Domiczyk), to tell her the good news. It seems they were waiting until Edmond was a Captain before they married, so Edmond would have enough money to buy Mercedes a ring. He finds Mercedes in the company of Fernand. It seems Fernand "loves" Mercedes and would rather her be with him than his "best" friend, as this is made abundantly clear while she and Fernand are talking before Edmond shows up. Edmond tells both Mercedes and Fernand that he has been promoted to captain and is of course over-joyed by the news. He can now marry Mercedes and they can live happily ever after. Of course this just is not meant to be.

Fernand is jealous of Edmond's good fortune, although Edmond is completely unaware of this. He wishes Edmond and Mercedes well, and promptly sulks off, leaving the two love-birds alone. Edmond and Mercedes then begin to plan for their future. Edmond tells Mercedes that as soon as he receives a few more assignments as a captain, he will be able to afford a ring for her. Mercedes of course tells Edmond she has no need for a ring, for she loves him deeply. She then proceeds to rip a string from her dress and wraps it around her ring finger saying, "it will never leave my finger".

From here the story moves back to Fernand. We see him stumbling drunkenly down the street, where he is hailed by Danglars. Fernand informs Danglars, that while he and Edmond were on Elba Napoleon entrusted a letter to Edmond, out of nothing but jealously. Danglars then takes the information to the provincial prosecutor Monsieur Villefort (James Frain), in a scene which we do not get to see, but that is inferred. Poor Edmond.

Villefort has Edmond arrested for treason, based upon Napoleon giving him the letter. Edmond has no idea what the letter contains, which is due to the fact he can't read. Villefort, at the beginning, seems to take more pity on Edmond than actually believing him "treasonous", calling Edmond a "true innocent" and is about to let Edmond go, when he asks him whether Napoleon informed Edmond as to who the letter was to be delivered to, Edmond says a "Monsieur Clarion". Villefort, for reasons which are explained later, seems to be taken aback by that piece of news, but still seems like he is going to let Edmond go. Of course that doesn't happen.

Edmond is arrested, and is about to be led away to the horse drawn paddy wagon, when he overpowers his guards and flees to none other than Fernand. Fernand it seems, initially, is willing to help Edmond escape the gendarmes, but of course he is not. A sword fight then ensues between the two former friends, and because Fernand is a master swordsman he gets the better of Edmond, who is not. With the gendarmes approaching, Edmond turns to Fernand and asks him why is he doing this. At first Fernand says, "Oh, it's complicated", however a few minutes later Fernand says, "Because I should not want to be you!". Which of course brings to the forefront Fernand's jealousy of Edmond. It should be noted that Fernand is the son of a Count and therefore has never wanted for anything in his entire life. Edmond is dirt-poor, but takes joy in everything while Fernand seemingly takes joy in nothing, and is jealous of Edmond's ability to love life.

The first third of the film moves very quickly, although it is approximately thirty-five minutes. The second third of the film slows down somewhat, since that is the part that deals with Edmond's wrongful imprisonment. All films need a beginning, a middle, and a end, I realize this, but the middle part of the Count of Monte Cristo drags along slowly.

As I stated previously, Edmond is arrested and is imprisoned in the notorious Chateau D'if, which is where France sends the prisoners that she is "ashamed of", according to the prison's sadistic warden Dorleac, played with glee by Michael Wincott. Dorleac has an interesting way of marking time, it seems whenever a prisoner's annual anniversary comes up he celebrates it by having the prisoner chained up and then whipped repeatedly. Upon his initial entry into the prison, Edmond still believes in God, and believes that "God will grant him justice". Of course as Dorleac puts it while he is whipping Edmond, 'You can pray to God, and when he shows up, I will stop', meaning that God does not exist in the Chateau D'if.

It is not really clear how much time has passed for Edmond when he meets up with another one of the films key characters, the also imprisoned Abbe Faria, played extremely well by Richard Harris. When the two characters meet Edmond has just about gone off the deep end. He feels forsaken by God and is about one step removed from being a animal. Faria's arrival could not have been better timed for Edmond's sake, as he re-awakens the human side of Edmond.

The Abbe it seems has an escape plan and requires the help of Edmond in order to carry it out. Edmond agrees to help him, if the Abbe agrees to teach Edmond how to read and write, the principles of economics, and other things. Those other things of course include, since the Abbe was a soldier, the martial arts (no not Karate) but swordsmanship and tactics. This summary makes this part of the film sound silly of course, but you just have to see the film to understand. Edmond of course, not only learns these things, he excels at them.

To close out this summary of the films middle part

SPOILER ALERT, SKIP THIS PART IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW

Edmond escapes from the Chateau and in the process (although I believe this is inferred) kills Dorleac. During their time in prison the Abbe informs Edmond why he is there. It seems that the Abbe was entrusted with the location of a vast treasure, called the "Treasure of Spada" and when he would not tell Napoleon where the treasure was, Napoleon had the Abbe thrown in prison. The Abbe, while he is dying, of course shares the location of the treasure with Edmond.

The part of the film after Edmond escapes, begins with Edmond running along the beach of a nearby island. Where he meets a group of smugglers, who have come to the island to bury alive one of their compatriots who it seems doesn't like to share the wealth. In Solomon-like fashion the leader of the smugglers suggests that Edmond and Jacopo, played by Luis Guzman should fight to the death in order to "prevent Jacopo's friends amongst the crew from revolting". No, that isn't a direct quote from the film itself, but one taken verbatim to describe what happens next. Edmond and Jacopo of course have a knife fight, with Edmond coming out on top. However, instead of killing Jacopo, Edmond spares his life. He tells the leader of the smugglers that if he spares Jacopo, he will have two skillful men to serve has members of the crew. The leader relents, and Jacopo's life is spared. Jacopo says to Edmond, "I swear on the graves of my dead relatives, even the ones who aren't feeling to good, I am your man forever". Which of course I saw coming a mile away. In a scene which I really do not understand, the smugglers give Edmond the name "Zatara" ("it means drift-wood"). Although I suppose since Edmond did not tell them his real name, for his own vague reasons, they did have to call him something.

Edmond spends three months with the smugglers, although I think this raises serious continuity problems with the film since he is imprisoned in the Chateau D'if for 13 years and later events in the film bring to light he has been gone for 16 years total, so I think the film-makers meant Edmond to be in the smugglers company for three years although that is just a guess on my part, as other things, which are not seen, may explain this three year gap.

Edmond and Jacopo then go off in search of the "Treasure of Spada", and they of course find it. Which leads to Edmond becoming the umm, Count of Monte Cristo duh.

END OF SPOILER

Sorry to have whetted your appetite by summarizing the first hour of the film and then bailing on it like that. But it is in the films last hour and twenty minutes where pretty much all the action takes place and I do not want to discourage anyone from seeing this very good film.

WHY DID I LIKE THIS FILM

Many reasons, not the least of which is the breathtaking visuals. The film was shot on location in Ireland and the Island of Malta. Simply beautiful locations. Malta makes a believable double for 19th century Marseille, and the exteriors of the homes they found, one word, WOW! The home that becomes Edmond's has to be seen to be believed.

The main reason why I liked this film though. Solid, and in some cases wonderful, performances on the part of the cast.

James Caviezel takes Edmond from a wide-eyed, albeit naive, simple man to a bitter man, wrongfully imprisoned, to a worldly man of means and makes it believable. There was a lot that could have gone wrong with the character of Edmond Dantes, but Caviezel's performance is strikingly believable and is never simple or silly. Edmond's journey of self-discovery is of course the very heart of the film and if it fails then the whole movie fails. James Caviezel is truly an actor on the rise, and we should look forward to further performances from him in the very near future.

Guy Pearce's Fernand Count Mondego, well I have to admit the film-makers made him extremely unlikable, which is I guess understandable. I really could not feel any sympathy for this character at all. Maybe it's just me, but even with the film's chief villain I need to feel he is something more than despicable. Mondego is of course that, and Pearce does an excellent job with the character, I just wish they had made him something more than a one dimensional villain. Although I have to admit the character does succeed as a believable counter-point to the titular Count. Which is a credit to Guy Pearce's talent as an actor.

Richard Harris as the Abbe Faria truly steals this film in my opinion. His performance is the main reason to see this film. When we first meet the Abbe he is a fully realized character and not much is explained about him. In the hands of a lesser actor this would have been a serious problem. However, this character in Harris' hands is wonderful, funny, worldly, and because he has never lost his faith, not bitter at all. Truly one of Richard Harris' better performances.

Luis Guzman's Jacopo provides some needed comic relief for this, at times, dark film about revenge and betrayal. I first became familiar with Guzman's work, like most other people I would imagine, with his performance as a DEA Agent in Traffic and I have pretty much been a fan ever since. Jacopo could have very easily been a "Man Friday" type character who despite his devotion to Edmond, who he routinely calls Zatara throughout the whole film, could have been relegated to a court jester type. However in Guzman's more than capable hands, Jacopo remains at the forefront of the film, serving as Edmond's conscience and moral center. Even though Edmond may not always realize this.

Mercedes, played with grace and strength by Dagmara Dominczyk is truly a find. The character of Mercedes could have very easily been reduced to the stereotypical weepy-eyed heroine, but in Dominczyk's hands she is anything but. She brings a almost serene quality to the character, even though it would have been very very easy for her to play the stereotype. Personally I feel Dominczyk will be a bankable actress in the not too distant future.

The story is of course a classic, written by one of the planet's greatest writers, Alexander Dumas, some people would call him the Father of Adventure Fiction. Okay maybe not, but he sure is one of my favorite authors. I read the book many years ago, along with his other masterpiece The Three Musketeers and I have been a fan ever since of his work. Of course Dumas isn't for everyone, but he is a truly wonderful writer and his stories are masterfully written.

WHAT DIDN'T I LIKE ABOUT THIS FILM

To be honest, not a whole lot. As I mentioned in the body of the review there is a continuity problem with the Dantes character. He is imprisoned for thirteen years and later events of the film suggest that he has been gone for sixteen years, with the three year gap not really explained. Though this did not diminish my enjoyment of the film in the least, it did make me wonder if there could not be some scenes that were left behind on the cutting room floor that would explain those missing three years. That however is a minor complaint (if it is indeed a complaint) for what was a more than enjoyable film.