Mandamientos

Fine film about a man who lost his wife, and as a result begins to question the motives of God. He has all these emotional problems while his arrogant brother-in-law is doing fine while totally ignoring any religious commitments; which the brother-in-law makes his relative very aware of. However, in the end things do not remain the same for arrogant in-law. Nor for the man who lost his wife. This film may bother some Christians at first, but in the end I think this film will be accepted as giving a positive message about theology. The ending was surprising and gratifying.

This film was pretty good, but could have been a lot better. It starts out great with impressive flashbacks, dialogue and scenery, flattens out into an almost boring retelling of the world's oldest and most used theme: good against evil, and then suddenly lifts itself up again in the last minute with a bizarre, biblical ending that I for one have never ever seen on film before. Parts of the film are very well written indeed, the black humor is great and the characters are actually fairly human and believable. But in the long run, the film ends up just confusing and a bit unsatisfactory.

Seth Warner (Aidan Quinn) is a deranged and very confused man, since he lost almost simultaneously his pregnant wife in the sea, his house in a hurricane and his job. He believes God has a plan for him, and he decides to challenge God, breaking the ten commandments, to press Him to show his destiny. After a breakdown, when Seth tried to commit suicide, his sister-in-law and lawyer Rachel Luce (the gorgeous Courtney Cox) invites him to spend some days in her apartment to rest and recover his health. This invitation is made under the protest of her husband, the journalist and scum Harry Luce (Anthony LaPaglia). Many strange events happen along Seth's attempting of pressing God to show the fate He has planned for him. First of all, this is one of the weirdest movie I have ever seen. The story is unpredictable and we never know what is going to happen next. In the middle of the plot, the movie loses the rhythm a little bit, but its conclusion is very reasonable. This movie plays with religion, using a very black humor. But maybe its greatest point is the outstanding cast. In my opinion, Aidan Quinn, Anthony LaPaglia and Courtney Cox are excellent actors and actress, unfortunately underrated in the cinema industry. I have seen many good movies with them, but they are not promoted as other less talented actors and actresses. Courtney Cox is also a very beautiful woman, and it is a great pleasure for my eyes to see her good performance on the screen. This film is not indicated for all audiences, since it plays with religion. Some persons may feel offended with the jokes. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): `Quebrando os 10 Mandamentos' (`Breaking the Ten Commandments)

Being a young widowed man, I was most anxious to see Commandments. Also, if you have read any of my other film revues, you should know how much I enjoy seeing Courteney Cox's work. However,despite all my efforts, I could not find enough substance within this motion picture to really enjoy it

The plot: a recently widowed man fusses at God due to his recent string of bad luck, ie death of his wife, tornado coming from no where and destroying, only his home, leaving his neighbors untouched, and so on. He then decides to break all the commandments as a way to challenge God to sort of a duel?

The photography was dark and dreary, even on sunny day scenes, giving the film a "life is so drab" undertone. We watch as the main character one by one breaks all of the commandments, which include a tastefully executed love scene with his brothers wife, played by Courteney Cox. As always, Ms.Cox's work was most admirable.

I can tell you first hand what being widowed is like, the pain and frustration are overwhelming. Commandments does not hit any of those marks. It is rather a self indulgent film that through black humor, tries to have us take a look at our own belief's. I won't even mention the ending.I will leave that for you to discover. Hey,you may enjoy this film more than I, but I doubt it.

Aidan Quinn ("Legends of the Fall") stars as Seth Warner, who recently has suffered one major setback after another: the tragic disappearance of his wife, the destruction of his house, and the loss of his job. And, for good measure, his dog is crippled by a bolt of lightning. Assuming that God himself has it in for him, Seth determines to get even by breaking all 10 of the Commandments.

Written & directed by Daniel Taplitz ("Breakin' All the Rules"), this dark comedy-drama is savvy enough to ask some pertinent theological questions, and has some good moments, but for this viewer, it didn't come off as well as I would have liked. Part of it is that I would have liked to see it get even darker, and go into more detail as the unhinged Seth broke those Commandments. Instead, it gets sappy & romantic as Seth falls in love with his neglected sister-in-law Rachel Luce (Courteney Cox, the "Scream" series), whom he initially just wanted to use re: the "thou shalt not covet thy neighbors' wife" Commandment.

The film has an effective offbeat quality, but Taplitz just doesn't follow through that interestingly on a grabber of a premise. It's too bad, because he does get solid performances out of his cast, with Anthony LaPaglia ('Without a Trace') rounding out the star trio as Rachels' slimy husband Harry, an investigative journalist. The character is amusingly scummy, and LaPaglia pretty much steals the show.

While such a film may initially bother some who are religious, it ultimately has enough going on that it could provoke some pertinent discussions afterwards.

Six out of 10.