La prophétie des Andes

The movie was good enough to remind me of the ideas I started to understand about 10 years ago when I read the book. At that time, the book had become a slow underground success, and when it started getting a lot of attention, the literary critics tended to bash it like they are bashing this movie. As a modern-day movie goer, I would like to have seen a more polished and better executed movie to portray these ideas, BUT it still reached me, and I was inspired again, even more than I was by the book because there has been time for these insights to gestate in me. Human evolution. Spiritual evolution. This movie is more about the insights than the story that encases them. So if you are interested in possibilities of the future human journey, you just might get what you are looking for in this film.

If there are any secrets of life, if there are any universal truths which can guide us, this film failed to illuminate them.

While an acceptable piece of movie making, Celstine Prophecy fell down in that category as well. Its main cinematic problems -- a lead actor who basically can't act; dialog that sometimes made even good actors like Hector Elizondro look bad and a confusing, inconclusive ending that failed completely to provide the "pay off" that is usually required to send the audience away feeling satisfied.

But this picture, first of the current mysticism or spirituality films to hit the screen this year, was also supposed to be about something more than movie making. While one could debate the validity of its philosophy till the cows come home, it would seem fitting to note just a couple of things.

The film, and the book which spawned it, are both called "The Celestine Prophecy," yet no prophecy was really detailed or even outlined. There were only some vague references to scrolls written about 500 or 600 AD which seemed to predict that sometime in the future the world would be racked with war and strife. Well, gosh, that's really going out on a limb, isn't it? Since the Dark Ages were racked with war and strife and since basically the entire history of mankind is filled with war and strife, predicting more war and strife doesn't make you insightful in my view. Its like predicting hurricanes are going to hit the Gulf Coast. Only FEMA could have been caught off guard by hurricanes in hurricane season.

Anyway, the scrolls are more about insight into human behavior than anything else, or so it would appear. Whose insight? That is not only never disclosed, its not even addressed in the film. Which gives us the image of a lot of seemingly well educated people willing to change their entire lives because of eight scrolls, which may be the earliest known examples of the chain letter.

And what is the philosophy? That isn't exactly explained either. Best I could figure out, it was a cross between the "feel the force, Luke," idea from Starwars and "The Power of Positive Thinking" stuff put forth in self help books in the 50s. It went a little beyond that, as it also included the kind of "look at the beauty around you" talk that usually came from people urging you to ingest controlled substances, probably not an unusual past-time for people in the Peruvian jungle.

This is a work of fiction, so the author was probably not intending it to become the foundation of a worldwide movement. But then maybe L. Ron Hubbard had good intentions, too, but the next thing we knew, we had Tom Cruise jumping up and down on a sofa and then planting his demon seed in poor little Katie Holmes and now we've got to mount a rescue mission to get her and her child away from those people. Gee, I wonder what Peter Graves and Marty Landeau are doing these days?

That brings us back to movie making and there was some good acting in "Celestine," mostly from the girls. Full props to Sarah Wayne Callies and the always reliable Annabeth Gish who both did fine jobs with their roles.

A marginal thumbs up, but very marginal. There are better cinematic experiences around and much better philosophical ones.

This movie was not bad, however, it should have focused more on the "insights" in the Celestine Prophecy itself, and less on violence, turmoil, strife etc. Know that this movie was trying to be "true" to the book from which it was adapted, so that much of the "dialogue" in the movie seems bookish. I enjoyed reading the insights at the end of the movie, and wish they were more apart of the movie itself; this would have made for a more enjoyable film overall. Watch this movie with an open heart, and realize that humanity is: Undergoing a profound Spiritual transformation, and that movies like this are important to watch to gain an understanding of the Shift that is taking place in our world. Know that this movie could have: Presented us with more Profound ideas to ponder, and informed use about what humanity should do to better prepare for the coming ages. Overall, this movie needs to be watched not for the violence and strife, but for the hope that it offers us all.

It was about 10 years ago when I came across the book and not by chance, it literally fell into lap. It was one of the best books I had ever read. That said I waited years for the movie with high expectations. I ordered the DVD as soon as it was available and eagerly watched it with friends. Unfortunately the movie failed on several aspects! As the movie progressed I found myself pausing the movie frequently to explain to those who had not read the book what was going on. The movie seemed to skim quickly over some of the insights without proper explanation which caused me to loose track as to which insight was being discussed in the movie. On a whole I felt the characters were well portrayed and acted, but was let down by a crammed script. I believe this should have been made into a mini series for TV allowing it to take full advantage of the character development and proper explanation of the insights.

Not bad if you have read the book... but if you haven't forget it!

Although this movie captures the essence of the book and illustrates a very important message, it does not really bring more than the book. However for those who did not read the book (hello... someone?), it may be an incentive to do so and to discover a new way to look at the world and at oneself.

In spite of a good realization, the film does not stir your soul or even draw a little tear. It is a mind-boggling story and as with the book, many people will follow the hero and find out they can easily identify with him. Unfortunately, the movie targets your mind when it should target your heart. You look at this incredible story with a detached mind and at the end, you may be tempted to say "so what" ?

People interested in the whole "Celestine philosophy" should see it but I recommend renting the DVD.