Hi community! I'm excited to post for my first time here 😁 I have chosen a movie that is old but I recently watched and is amazing how accurate is to the current society even if it was filmed 26 years ago. The casting is spectacular: Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino and Charlize Theron among others.
Introduction
The movie is about a lawyer who never loses a case (even if the person who is defending is actually guilty). Because of this, he's been asked to move to NYC to work for a big lawyer buffet. He moves there with his wife who doesn't adapt well to the fact of doing nothing in the whole day. He has to make choices that face them with the devil itself. During the film you can see how at the beginning most of his decisions are based on his ego and at the end, when he gains awareness, he change his mind. But, is it really? Or it is just another way of express the ego?
Context
There's a scene of this movie that I find fascinating:
I will paste this speech here remarking the best parts:
Eddie Barzoon! Eddie Barzoon! Ha! I nursed him through two divorces, a cocaine rehab, and a pregnant receptionist. God's creature, right? God's special creature? Ha! And I've warned him, Kevin, I've warned him every step of the way. Watching him bounce around like a fucking game, like a wind-up toy! Like 250 pounds of self-serving greed on wheels! The next thousand years is right around the corner, Kevin, and Eddie Barzoon--take a good look. Because he's the poster child for the next millennium! These people, it's no mystery where they come from. You sharpen the human appetite to the point where it could split atoms with its desire, you build egos the size of cathedrals, fiberopticly connect the world to every-eager-impulse, grease even the dullest dreams with these dollar-green gold-played fantasies until every human becomes an aspiring emperor! Becomes his own God! Where can you go from there? And as for scrambling from one deal to the next, who's got his eye on the planet? As the air thickens, the water sours, even the bees honey takes on the metallic taste of radioactivity--and it just keeps coming! And it just keeps coming! Faster and faster! There's no chance to think, to prepare, it's `buy futures, sell futures' when there is no future!! We've got a runaway train, boy!! We've got a billion Eddie Barzoons all jogging into the future. Every one of them reading to fist-fuck God's ex-planet, lick their fingers clean as they reach out with their pristine cybernetic keyboards to total up their billable hours!! And then it hits home! It's a little late in the game to buy out now!! Your belly's too full, your dick is sore, your eyes are bloodshot, and you're screaming for someone to help!! But guess what? There's no one there!! You're all alone, Eddie!! [mocking] You're God's special little creature!!
Maybe it's true. Maybe God threw the dice once too often. Maybe He let us all down.
When I read this it comes to my mind all the influencers, all the people who are desperate to become one (apparently in Spain that's what the young people aspire to be when they grow up...). All these ads telling you how to sell 10K or more a moth, all the money and manifestation coaches, all the fake photos, the paid scenarios,... This movie really set up the context that we are living nowadays: Egos the size of cathedrals fed by fantasies painted on a screen.
Opinion
Although this is an old movie and I can not say that I liked everything I saw on it (there are many sexist things I can not agree with...) I think that the final message of the movie and how they describe our current society is marvelous.
My favourite scene of the movie is the one that I described before. Although I also really liked the final scene when it closes with “Vanity… Definitely, my favorite sin". Again is something that we can notice in our condition as human beings of trying to embrace our ego and feel superior to the rest.
In my opinion by just watching the scene that I shared you can come to your own personal reflection of what is the meaning of common social media nowadays and for what do we use it.
Another thing I really like about this movie is how the devil remarks that we have free will. We are the only responsible of our actions. We always have a choice. And we should gain awareness on out of what we make our choices. What is our intention behind? What is the impact of our choices?
Personally this is something that I resonate a lot. Specially recently when I was doubting about going back to the corporate world or not. I realized that the only reason I was thinking about going back was for having "financial security", but that I don't believe or trust in none of the companies I was applying for. I also didn't think that with the work I did in my past and that I was planning on going back to, I contributed to anything useful for our society. For that reason I decided to stop listening to my fearful mind and paying more attention to my intuition and gut feeling.
Conclusion
I think this is a great movie to watch in 2023. Even if it's old and the special effects might feel ridiculous compare to the way that movies are produced nowadays, the message of the movie is worth it. I also like to watch great actors like Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino or Charlize Theron in their young times and appreciate the great work that they do in this movie.
I hope that you have enjoyed this review and if you have watched it already, please share your thoughts about this movie!
Have a great weekend! 🌟