I believe that the theme of this film is, “there is no such thing as a free lunch”. The story gives the lead money and power. The lead finds out that he needs to pay for it with his soul. The director has a lot of ambition for the movie. He brings a lot of religion and ethics into the characters of the film by using subliminal symbolism. Even though the director tries to make a lesson out of the film, he makes the film with a lot of takes. This makes the film fast and very stimulating. Every detail of the screenplay is needed to make up the whole story.
Given the director’s ambition and intent, I think that he portrayed the story well. Subjectively, I did like this film. Even though the world is not entirely Christian, I believe we all have religion. Religion does not have to revolve around a god, but religion revolves around or morality. I enjoyed this film because it dealt around someone’s decision to do the right thing.
The film starts out in Gainesville, Florida. As successful lawyer, Kevin Lomax, has never lost a case. During his trial defending an alleged child molester in the form of a math teacher, he suddenly is caught up in the whole intriguing plot of the movie, that the firm Milton, Chadwick and Waters, a powerful firm in New York asks him to come down to help select a jury. After, he and his wife are treated to luxury on that visit, Kevin is offered a job with the firm based on his talent. He was given all he could wish for, in the form of a huge apartment and great office.
There are two main characters in this movie, Kevin Lomax, who is played by Keanu Reeves, and John Milton, who is played by Al Pacino. Kevin Lomax is a relatively good person, even though he is a lawyer. He has got a sixth sense; he has intuitions when he picks his jury. His mother is a devout Christian in Gainesville and does not approve of his life. She speaks at Kevin in scripture and he answers her back. He is not a practicing Christian though. During the church scene, you see Kevin go up to the church that he was once a big part of his life, but not in it. He is half in the light and half out of the light. He is a cool and cocky character. He knows that he is an unbeaten lawyer. His expensive alligator skin boots are shown throughout the movie. In the first trial they show him with these boots while he is wearing a southern, cotton suit. These boots symbolize that he i...
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... win but not at the expense of your humanity”.
I think that the message of the filmmaker is that there are choices that we make concerning everyday. We might be able to make unethical choice but maybe making the right choices. He is saying that you might not have to pay for your choices now but sometime down the road you are going to have to. I think that the title of the movie has a lot of meaning. The Devil’s Advocate has a meaning all to itself. In business it is a person that goes against the group thought. He tries to get the get the group from getting groupthink (a stagnant cohesion of thinkers). Kevin was the devils advocate in his trials. Everyone knew that his defendants were dirty and bad people, but got them to think about how they were innocent of the crime they were under persecution of. Webster’s Dictionary says an advocate is one that argues for a cause, one that pleads in another’s behalf, a lawyer. During the Jewish Apocalyptic movement Satan went from God’s public prosecutor to an independent adversary. This sounds like what Kevin did. He was an Assistance District Attorney with a 64:0 record and then went to work for the scum of the earth. Like father, like son.
The main protagonist of the film, Scotty Smalls, is introduced as a straight-A, friendless young boy who has just moved into a new neighborhood in new state. While
Guilty or not guilty? This the key question during the murder trial of a young man accused of fatally stabbing his father. The play 12 Angry Men, by Reginald Rose, introduces to the audience twelve members of a jury made up of contrasting men from various backgrounds. One of the most critical elements of the play is how the personalities and experiences of these men influence their initial majority vote of guilty. Three of the most influential members include juror #3, juror #10, and juror #11. Their past experiences and personal bias determine their thoughts and opinions on the case. Therefore, how a person feels inside is reflected in his/her thoughts, opinions, and behavior.
This movie was a tale of an immigrant seeking money and power who untimely set up his own demise. The producers did a good job at pointing out certain features that let you into the life of an organized crime leader. He tells of his humble beginnings and shows you in details how he rose to the top. The producer had a point to make and I took that point as being you can never get and stay someone good while being bad. The sound effects and graphics also makes this movie. They show just enough to intrigue you but yet not to completely make you sick to your stomach. The music is very telling and
I have always believed that all races have their good and bad. Their is never going to be the perfect race. This movie definitely set a powerful message that life is not perfect for any race and that even though people are from different cultures, they are all interconnected somehow. The filmmakers did a great job at showing us that individuals should not be based on first impressions such as skin color or the social status.
The book and the movie were both very good. The book took time to explain things like setting, people’s emotions, people’s traits, and important background information. There was no time for these explanations the movie. The book, however, had parts in the beginning where some readers could become flustered.
...s from The Prosecution Function to a real life setting. My tainted movie perception of the criminal justice system no longer exists. While the process does not necessarily always have an unbelievable climax, the excitement lies in the subtle details the opposing counsels must recognize in order to gain an advantage; it truly is a mind game. The immense amount of time and effort that is put forth makes me appreciate the quality of art that lawyers possess. The knowledge and preparation it takes to be successful is astounding, and it is a pleasure to watch.
In the courtroom scene with Jake Brigance (Matthew McConaughey) the closing argument was well directed and made a bold statement. This not only made this scene memorable but made an...
... believed in the innocence of the young man and convinced the others to view the evidence and examine the true events that occurred. He struggled with the other jurors because he became the deviant one in the group, not willing to follow along with the rest. His reasoning and his need to examine things prevailed because one by one, the jurors started to see his perspective and they voted not guilty. Some jurors were not convinced, no matter how much evidence was there, especially Juror #3. His issues with his son affected his decision-making but in the end, he only examined the evidence and concluded that the young man was not guilty.
The film stays in line with classic noir in many ways. The usage of dark sets and high contrast lighting, which creates heavy shadows on the actors faces, makes the movie feel like it all happens at night and in dark alley ways. The story focuses on the inhumane parts of human nature. Each of the main characters experiences some kind of tragedy. For Vargas his tragedy was in dealing with Quinlin who has set out to frame him and his wife. For Quinlin his entire life represented a man consumed with darkness who lives his life with a “Touch of Evil.” Menzies was a hopeful man who looked up to Quinlin but was let down. For the viewer, film noir represents truth, even if it is not a truth that all people would like to hear.
The plot is about human weakness. Hatred, jealousy, lust can make anyone loses his mind and do the most unthinkable acts. We should understand our human nature and not be motivated by these evil characteristics to do thing to harm others. At the same time, there are many wicked people around, who will use many manipulative skills to persuade us to do evils and we must resist it.
Giving more insights about how racist ideologies are born or even transmitted from one generation to another is probably the main mission of this movie. This is definitely a movie about racism which does not follow the traditional way Hollywood has of showing the victim’s side of the story. The audience of this movie will be attached, this time, to the racist’s point of view, thanks to the help various film elements and a literary design that are used to force the viewer to empathize and maybe even like the hero/bad guy of the story.
...r, this movie is lack of depth of storyline. The audiences can even predict what will happen in the next scenes. Moreover, the ending of this movie is too cheesy and irrational according to me. If only they change the ending to become more interesting and rational, I will give a four or five stars out of five. In spite of a lame twist ending, this movie is a perfect example to show that managers should be able to motivate and challenge their employee. It is important to remember that a happy employee means a productive employee.
Although I enjoyed the main portion of the movie, there were some obvious likes and dislikes in my opinion. I believe that I learned from this movie and it helped me understand more of what the people of that time were feeling.
...director did not limit the film to its historical context but extended the same to romance and fantasy. From a different angle of view, the director made use of the theme to communicate with the viewers and the fictional characters can be considered as his tools. Besides, ample importance is given to historical and fictional characters. In short, the amalgamation of history, fantasy and romance constituted much to the film’s importance as a historical/fictional masterpiece.