Monte

A visually sumptuous film that is a fine study of rocky terrain, be it of the land or of the human face. For it's first two thirds I thought this a very good movie. Unfortunately, the last third reduces it to a near self-parody. The over- baked symbolism gradually, but almost literally, hits the audience over the head with a rock. The auteur's need to challenge the audience goes beyond it's own aesthetic value and becomes a kind of pointless sadism. It's too bad. With more discipline this might have been a very fine art-film about Kierkegaardian faith.