The Celestine Prophecy

For me, it is a seductive invitation for read the book. because it is too difficult to give the right adaptation for "The Celestine Prophecy". and, if you do not read the book, all is reduced at noble message and gorgeous images. but it is more. this is the lead motif for who I am not convince to compare the book and its adaptation. becaus, director,, actors, cinematography , each, together are parts from an admirable project and it is a big mistake to pretend more. the choice is your - a real usefull book and a beautiful film. as pieces of the same thing. who has many opportunities. to change yourself.

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.

An adaptation of James Redfield's novel about the search for a sacred manuscript in the Peruvian rain forest . Disillusioned and temporarily rudderless, John Woodson (Matthew Settle ) is about to experience a dramatic and profound metamorphosis. Through a mysterious set of coincidences, he travels to Peru to find out strange scrolls , known as the Celestine Prophecy. In Peru Woodson meets a motley group of people (Sarah Wayne , Hector Helizondo , Jurgen Prochnow , Anabeth Gish..) with dark secrets . John gets drawn into a cobweb of mysterious events . Resistant at first, skeptical and unsure, John finds that each step he takes, each person he encounters leads him to a new awakening. It is only in this letting go that he finds his destiny and comes to understand the meaning that had escaped him when his adventure began.

Thought-provoking film that packs suspense , thrills , religious events , heartfelt message and weird philosophy . It's a crossover among various films , as it takes parts from ¨The Seventh Sign¨ , ¨The fountain ¨ , ¨The reaping¨ , and ¨The gathering¨ . The picture contains an interesting premise about the prophecy and its nine key insights, predict a new awakening that redefines human life and provides a glimpse into a completely spiritual culture on earth . It's a spiritual triller skillfully narrated with bit action and slightly entertaining. This polished film provides chills, thrills in lively mystery . It's rich and dark though sometimes confusing . The film belongs to supernatural prophecy sub-genre (along with : ¨The omen¨, ¨The seventh sign¨, ¨The Body¨ , among others). Average acting by Matthew Seattle as a young who finds himself on an adventure to Peru in search of ancient scrolls . Very good support cast plenty of respected players such as Thomas Kretschmann as Wil , Sarah Wayne Callies as Marjorie , Annabeth Gish as Julia , Hector Elizondo as Cardinal Sebastian , Joaquim de Almeida as Father Sanchez and Jürgen Prochnow as Jensen . Esoteric music and excessive use of synthesizer by Nuno Malo .

The motion picture loosely based on the book Celestine Prophecy was regularly directed by Armand Mastroianni . Armand has been directing feature films, mini series, movies of the week, TV pilots and episodic series since 1979 beginning with his first feature film "He Knows You're Alone" which was released by MGM in 1980 and featured the screen debut of Tom Hanks. That film led to a string of features including "The Killing Hour" developed with William Fredkin, "The Supernaturals," "Distortions," "Cameron's Closet" and "Double Revenge." In between shooting feature films Armand began to produce and direct episodic television shows and series like Virus , Invasión , First daughter , Citizen Jane , A Gunfighter's Pledge , The finalist , Pandemic and many others .

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!

I've had the pleasure to watch this film four times, and I've enjoyed each viewing more than the last. Having read the book twice - once 11 years ago and once two months ago - I feel that the movie did an admirable job of expressing the essence and heart of the book, while keeping it within 100 minutes and palatable for the average movie viewer.

It is clearly not a polished, big-budget film, and yet it attracted many well-known and respected actors. It addresses issues of power and control in relationships, religion, and politics in a fresh and contemporary way. To me, its greatest accomplishment is bringing a New Spirituality perspective to screen - where humans are not disconnected beings in a random universe, nor sinners subject to the wrath of an angry God, but are one with everything and are co-creators of their experience of life.

I suggest you will get the most from this film by looking at it not as a blockbuster, but as a paradigm-buster.

Happy viewing!