| Overall Grade: |
B+ |
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| Story: |
A |
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| Acting: |
B+ |
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| Direction: |
B- |
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| Visuals: |
B |
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A Special Interest Movie
by Robert (movies profile)
Oct 27, 2007
45
of
55 people found this review helpful
"The Ninth Gate" is an excellent movie that suffers from one daunting handicap--few of the viewers will have the vaguest idea what the story is about. The film is based on a particular branch of occult study, the philosophy/religion of "Thelema" expounded by Aleister Crowley. Much of the imagery is drawn directly from the Thoth Tarot deck designed by Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris. The tale is an allegory of the soul's quest for union with God, a journey up the Tree of Life (a symbol from the ancient Jewish mystical tradition), combined with the search for attaining "The Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel", aka "enlightenment," "the new birth," "transcendence," etc. The nature of the symbolism is unmistakable for those who are familiar with it, but almost impenetrable for those who are not. The key facts to notice in understanding the film is that it is *not* about Satanism. Please notice that by the end of the movie, all the Satanists are dead, either by murdering each other or by a particularly bizarre form of suicide. The one who succeeds in the quest, played by Johnny Depp, is the non-believer, who becomes a much better person in the course of the movie than the rather sleazy character we began with. He encounters assistance from his Holy Guardian Angel, played by Emmanuelle Seigner, who helps him, often unobtrusively, and from whom the Satanists tend to run if they can. The high point of the film is his gaining the knowledge of his Angel in a highly erotic scene which displays the activation of his chakras and leads him to the full awakening of kundalini. Then he gains the final clue from her to understand the illustrations in the book he has been studying. He enters into the light and is gone from this world--which ends the movie. This one can be enjoyable for a viewer moderately educated in occultism, but full appreciation of the subtleties of the plot is reserved for initiates. I hope some of these notes may help to make the movie clearer, but full understanding of some of these points would take years of study. Sorry, folks, some things simply can't be explained in ten minutes. |
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