Reviews

In IJTLC we're provided with a backstory of the famed archaeologist Indiana Jones. The film opens with a bunch of adolescent Boy Scouts horseback riding through the scorched rocky country of eastern Utah. Two of boys decide on going cave-scouting (one of whom is young Mr Jones) and they happen upon a group of tomb raiders who dig up a golden cross purported to belong to the Spanish conquistador Coronado. Young Indie steals the cross from the fumbling bunch and a spectacularly choreographed chase sequence ensues, involving a moving circus train full of jet-lagged animals. Young Indie manages to escape the clutches of the bandits and takes refuge in his home where his father (played by Sean Connery) absentmindedly acknowledges his hectic arrival while remaining mostly absorbed by an ancient literature book. This interlude gives us a perspective on Indie's integrity and morals present in his from an early age, particularly concerning artifacts and anything of historical significance. The sheriff arrives and Indie hands over the cross only to realize a moment later that he'd been played. It must have been his first lesson of the workings of real life.

Years later we meet now a matured Indiana Jones rocking precariously on a ship at stormy sea somewhere off the coast of Portugal. He's been caught red-handed again by the same leader of tomb raiders, only this time he wouldn't be so easy on him as he orders his henchmen to throw Indie overboard. After some impressive stunts, Indie manages to get away from the goons just in time so when a barrel of fuel is swept by the crashing waves hits some crates on the deck, the ship explodes and is swallowed by raving waters. Indie has finally retrieved the cross and this times it's going to a museum because, well it belongs there...

After this escapade we find Indiana at his official work place at the Marcus University (or was it a museum?). He's giving a lecture to a roomful of dreamy-eyed students who seems to take every word he says at face value. The girls appear to be especially enthralled by him and his reputation.As he walks them through the essence of being an archaeologist Indie stresses the fact that in real life 'X never, never marks the spot'. As Marcus Brody walks in, Indie wraps up the lecture and dismissed the class. Indie presents Marcus with the recovered cross. As he sneaks out the windows of his office he's confronted by a group of well-groomed men who take him to Walter Donovan who tells him that his father, Jones Sr. had gone missing after searching for The Holy Grail, using an incomplete inscription from a stone tablet as his guide.

From here on out the action really takes speed. We're surprised-as well as Indie- to find that sometimes X does mark the spot. The action takes us to various places across the world in a similar fashion to that of previous Indiana Jones movies. Much can be said about the visual effects of the movie, but it would just as well suffice to say that they are stunning. There's a good measure of funny lines and preposterous situations and cliffhangers, which only adds to the overall appeal of this adventure picture.

This installment revolves around the Holy Grail and the quest for it, a race of good against evil. At the height of WWll Adolf Hitler's minions are dispatched to locate the Holy Grail. This movie takes advantage of the widely-circulated high tales of Nazi occultism and their various secret paranormal projects, ranging from flying saucers to telekinesis. Much of the film's appeal lies not in the plot but in its child-like charm. It's adventurous, it's daring, it's fast-paced, but most of all it's wonder-full. If you were to scratch the surface of its convincingly plausible story-line, you'd disperse the magic of it all by finding it utterly laughable on the premise of how historically cliched and inaccurate it is. The mcguffin in this film, which is the Holy Grail, is simply that- a mcguffin. If you don't know what a mcguffin is, I suggest you look up Alfred Hitchcock's definition of it in the form of a little anecdote.

All things considered it was an informative documentary but way too long. The creators could've gotten the point across in no longer than 45 mins. Instead we're presented with an hour and a half harangue. One thing that we can take away from the film is that staying healthy is a trial and error.

That pretty much sums it up. Twenty minutes into the film I was already yawning. The story is rubbish, the humor bland, and the characters not the least bit engaging.

This episode was slightly charming, to some degree thanks to the goofy story, but mostly because if that feeling they gave it, you know, that '90s peculiar ambiance. I liked that. I liked the familiar tone of storytelling, the retro opening, and the score that tracked in the background. This could easily have fit between those old monster-of-the-week episodes and remained comfortably hidden among them, as if it never were...

Plus One ran out of steam pretty quickly. Mulder and Scully quickly got wind of what's going on and who was responsible for that. The usual arguments were present here, theories exchanged, but it seemed as if none of them was too eager to take a stance. That passion and wonder in their eyes and voice is gone, replaced by apathy and let's-get-it-over-with attitude. Mulder's theory, of course, is the unconventional one. Scully, however is not surprised or even a bit curious about that. She still sticks firmly to her cut and dry scientific extrapolations, reciting the same ole stuff mechanically. They do question each other's opinions, though, but to such a degree as to pass time, not facilitate a resolution. I strongly believe that every episode of this season should work towards the much needed closure of the epic story, wrapping things up in a meaningful way, and bringing a dignified end to it. No such luck so far, though. The show's become a self parody, pointing out its incoherence and meaningless circular reasoning.

The lead actors didn't help much either. Their meek and tired expressions convey a sense of boredom and tediousness, underlying the burden of the show's ceaseless reinventions and ridiculous layers of plot piling on top of each other for decades.

E.B.E is a taught and suspenseful episode, teetering on the verge of paranoia. Up to this point the show's been feeling its way along, mostly aimlessly, trying to figure out where it's headed and what it's going to be about. We've got some hints and bits of disjointed and apparently unrelated events and phenomena of the overarching plot, but that's all. The producers knew it and we knew it- they had to dig up a solid theme. E.B.E. was the answer, and a good one at that.

The introduction of the Lonegunmen added yet another layer of texture and substance, broadening the show's background, bringing a refreshment and further ingenuity and, to some extent, taking some burden off Mulder and Scully's shoulders, giving them somebody to bank on every now and then.

Not showing too much was also a nice touch, raising the tension and expectations higher. We know now that the US government is in the possession of an extraterrestrial being, and later on we become privy to the government's intentions in relation to it. As the episode went along, we got one answer followed by a dozen lies, as frustration was growing stronger in Mulder on screen. It was even more successful on an emotional level that on story line, come to think of it. The lead characters were apparently becoming more and more unnerved as they realized they'd been spied on, lied to, and purposely fed misinformation.

Toward the end of the episode Deep Throat hints at Roswell Incident as being the beginning of an international agreement on destroying any E.B.E. should it establishes a contact with a particular country. This suggests that the Roswell Incident was in fact authentic, which contradicts another statement from DT later made in The Erlenmeyer Flask, dubbing it a 'smokescreen'.

But I guess that's the price you pay when you get tangled up in a plot so convoluted- it's hard to keep everything in check. Be it as it may, this episode bears enough merit as to grant it a pardon for the mistakes it made.

Main thing I can point out is that E.B.E. is a quintessential X Files episode that pretty much stands out among the crowd.

In 1993 a TV show came on the scene that promised to be different, esoteric, and it did keep its promise. Right off the start it looked like we were onto something outside the mainstream-pleasing circle, just as its weird cousin, Twin Peaks was. It was mostly filmed in various heavily-wooded parts in Canada, it was gloomy, it was brooding, and it sure as rain in Canada augured well for lots of weird stuff to follow. In spite of its uncertainty of what it really would be about, The X Files soon established its grounds and got us (at least me, you know 'us' sounds kind of presumptuous) hooked, mainly after the the Fallen Angel was aired in Season 1.

To me The X Files was truly entertaining and involving right up to the end of Season 5, which put an end to what I call "The Real X Files". The team packed up and moved to California. That decision invariably led to various plot tweaks and tune-ups in order to accommodate the change in location that replaced the Great North's particular ambiance. Now I don't know if it was the fact that the show was now starting to get more action-driven with cheesy dialogue done mainly to appease a wider audience, or maybe it was just the Hollywood's influence that led to its downfall, but one thing was certain- it's not what it used to be and it sure doesn't feel the way it did. There's no rule that a show must always stray from evolving and developing new techniques and devices, but should they be so rudely employed as to surgically alter the very essence of it? I beg to differ. Think of the earlier episodes, how involving they were, it was like you're really into the Mulder&Scully's world, looking for the truth along with them. It was much more of a personal experience, like those obscure ufologists who hides in the shadows, writes for little-known pulp magazines and talks about all kinds of weird stuff to those willing to listen.

As much as I like this show, I strongly felt that they should've ended it with Season 5, or at least should've wrapped things up with with Season 6 and brought a decent closure to it, though one which may not have answered all our questions or resolved all the conflicts within the show's mythology.

It's like one of those non sequential nightmares which make no sense, start in one direction, following a marginally established context and premise, then, oh hell, all of a sudden and without the faintest interlude take a complete turnaround and shift to something nonsensical and just as awful and depressing as the feverish moments prior.

Annabelle: Creation is the product of something relying not on sense, or even slight coherent guidance, but of exploration of scare devices.

There are so many things with this awful little movie that just plain make no sense or even attempt to make one.

Things apparently happen for no reason at all but to attempt to frighten the viewer, putting faith in the chance that he/she maybe so distracted and driven out of their comfort zone by the jump-scares and those poor little girls' innocent lives at stake, that maybe they may not even notice how ridiculous the whole thing is.

In the course of the movie there were explanations, scarce as they might have been, revealed untimely and purely out of necessity as to allow further progression of the story.

The problem, however, lies not in the explanations, the lack of once therein, but in the very contradiction they impose.

Funny thing is, if you drive all logic and sense out of the equation, the effect is pretty strong. It is a scary and hair-raising, heart beat accelerating film.

I finally got to finishing watching the 8th season through after so many years of stopping right in the first quarter of it.

This probably was due to the absence of Agent Mulder (Duchovny). I don't know why, but the series kind of lost its magnetism for me at that point.

Hopefully, after such a long time, I'm finally able to double-back and give it the chance it deserved.

My first impression is how good Robert Patrick's acting is. Judging by this criterion alone, I'd say, as blasphemous as it may sound to the die-hard Duchovny's fans, that Patrick's acting is better than Duchovny's. Why would I say that? Well you'd have to be honest and completely impartial to see that obvious detail. First of all, Duchovny's disinterest in the show really started to transpire toward the end of the 5th season, and that obviously showed through. I've always wanted to believe that Duchovny in real life was just as, or at least partially, interested in the show's matter as he was as Agent Mulder on screen. You, that gives the extra credibility and substance to any art form. Of course this is not obligatory, or maybe even necessary, because, after all, this is just acting. But it never hurts to be, either.

Of course Davy became frustrated at the fact that most Hollywood celebs were starring in huge blockbusters and harvesting all kinds of awards, and that seemed to have gotten to him. He was 'stuck' with this show, which apparently 'stifled' his career.

But who can blame the guy? He wanted to be more artistic and flexible as an actor and a write, so he pursued that goal of his, which it didn't pan out all that well...

Patrick on the other hand seemed much more involved in the series than Duchovny.

He was intense, focused, and just as head-on as Duchovny was in the beginning, in addition to slightly superior acting skills.

In this episode a 7 years old boy named Billy disappears one day while swaying on an elementary school swing, shouting to his mom over the hustle of the kids and adults conversing in the playground, trying to get her attention for a second for her to see how fast he was going to and fro on that swing. She, of course, pays little attention to her son, being involved in a conversation with another woman. When she turns her attention toward her son the next moment, she sees the swing empty and goes to look for him. Alas, he's gone and will be so... for 10 years.

At first this episode started off as another alien abduction story, at least that was the given impression. As the story moved on, it became sort of confusing as to where it was heading, leaving the viewer to speculation. That would go on right until the end.

To some degree I was disappointed with the outcome, but then again I was glad it turned out the way it did.

This is another open to interpretation episode, so if you're one of those who's always on the prowl for an explanation, you will be let down a tad.

Fear not, though, for wherein it falls short, it does pay off a two- fold. For example, certain lack of explanation was in one way or another conveniently avoided to make it more realistic, and surprisingly, it did.

We do get plentiful of disclosure just to make do with the bigger picture, and not dwell on the unexplained.

The episode opens with a deputy sheriff encountering the crash scene of a UFO near Townsend, Wisconsin, what he believes to be just forest wire. He responds accordingly by asking for a fire screw dispatch to the scene. He gets out of the car to investigate. At the same time the US Space Surveillance Center in Colorado detects the activity and, upon analyzing the data, establish the crashed aircraft to be unidentified due to its nature of manoeuvre prior to the crash. In charge of the military reclamation's division is Colonel Calvin Henderson. Upon the technicians' briefing on the data, and to their bewilderment, the Colonel's orders are clear: 'What you tracked was a meteor. The aberrant movement was obviously to instrument malfunction.' They know the truth and he knows the truth: it's a UFO, but the elephant in the room remains ignored.

Later Agent Mulder and Deep Throat have a meeting during which Deep Throat advises Mulder to act quickly, suggesting a time frame of just about 24 hours before the Air Force cleans up the scene and seal the evidence.

Of course Agent Mulder couldn't let this one slip by, so he gets to investigate. He travels to the crash scene, dressed in plain clothes, and equipped with a camera and plenty of film.

His spying mission gets interrupted as one of the military personnel surprises him from the back.

Later, in detention, he meets another wannabe reporter by the name of Max Fenig, an odd character and an NICAP (National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena) member, who was also caught sniffing around for some capture. As Scully later arrives to retrieve Mulder, she tells him that FBI Section Chief Joseph McGrath is threatening to shut down the X-Files because of his unauthorized investigation.

Up until this point it wasn't clear as to what direction the show would take. Of course there was insidious government involvement in shady affairs, and it goes without saying that we were strapped in for an unusual TV show from the get-go. However, the alien stuff didn't really kick in prior to this episode, which, of course, came just in time before the viewers became disinterested. The show had started to develop a theme. Even though it was a preconceived one by the creator Chris Carter, he didn't really succeed initially, but, nonetheless, the spooky ambiance and the premise was there all along.

In Fallen Angel the aliens conspiracy was kind of beginning to transpire, although we are left to our own imagination and speculation as to what the heck's going on and if there were really any aliens and alien aircraft involved in the first place. This paved the road to further development while keeping the suspense high.

As with most X File cases this one is filled with speculations and doubts, dubiousness and skepticism against Mulder's theories and beliefs. It doesn't help his case much since we're almost convinced that the truth could be much different. This is what makes The X Files such a great show- the absence of obvious and immediate answer. That's how the real governments work and that's what we've been asking for a long time. The truth is out there, but will we reveal it?

As with most good horror films the original Friday The 13th was bound to be doomed by endless sequels, remakes, reboots and all the works.

Since watching the original many years ago I have been lured by its dark charm and followed the rest of the franchise with hopes of seeing, at least for once, a sequel that stayed true to the premise of its predecessor and not go off on a wild tangent. Sad to say they just went from worse to disastrous.

In Jason Goes to Hell we're once again brought to the attention of the mythic Jason Voorhees and his blood-soaked, shadow-filled habitat. The plot's pretty much a carbon copy of the previous ones- naked girls taking the mandatory shower, light bulbs going out, teens having sex then getting butchered, jump scares every two minutes or so... The difference here is that the score is even worse than the previous one and, to the agonizing logic of any so-called fan, the theme of sorcery has been incorporated (dear god) in attempt to bring something to the exhausted story. This device has another purpose as well. After numerous movies in which we see Jason being shot at, stabbed, decapitated, drowned, etc., we'd come to the conclusion that Jason can't be human because he just keeps coming back, hence the flimsy fantasy element. For me personally this ruined the whole story. I preferred to think of Jason as a deformed, demented survivor living in the woods and taking it out on anyone who enters and disturbs his land. The original was a completely different kind of beast from all that followed. What we see here is another money-maker with no respect for the original whatsoever. I was generous by giving it 4 out of 10 stars...

Recently I'd thought up a game for myself: Can you guess the movie/book's ending or twists? It's a fun game, actually. I've come to realize how much I can predict and intuit just by employing some imagination. With this movie I hit the bull's eye. All I had to do was look at the inappropriate behavior of the actors to know what was coming. This was partly due to the reviews I'd read prior to seeing this movie, which pointed out the 'original' plot twist involved. So I said to myself, 'What do you think the creators would have thought of in this case, that would seem like an original thing?' And there you go, you end up with something not only banal but downright embarrassing.

I don't know what to make of this movie as a whole, for I found it uninteresting and unfocused. Without revealing any key points in the plot I can only say that it might have worked half better if it concerned a bit older characters. It's not that the film itself it a complete waste, no. It has its value of entertainment, whatever that means, and sue it's going to be appreciated by a lot of people, especially the millennial generation.

We've already seen such nihilistic approach with intention of evoking horror in the viewer, because, after all, what's more disturbing that the complete disregard for life and morals? Why does seem so utterly appalling when someone just commits murder and all they do is act like 'Oops! Well that's interesting,' and then shrug it off forget about it as if nothing happened? No frustration, no delayed regret or even painful satisfaction...

The problem here is that I was just left pi$$ed off and not a bit scared or wiser.

P2 is a little nasty picture which does what it's got and doesn't apologize for it. The action takes place in a Manhattan office block on Christmas Eve. The focus of our interest is a young woman, Angela Bridges, who's clocking out after almost everyone else has gone off to join their families and celebrate. Angela gets down to the underground parking lot of the building where her car is waiting for her, one of the very few lone vehicles still within the abandoned premises. Much to her frustration, however, the car refuses to start, so she gets out and walks over to the security guy's booth to ask for help. The man seems polite enough and addresses her problem with keenness, suggesting it could just be the battery. After hooking a portable jumper to the battery it becomes clear that the battery is not at fault. He suggests a few more tips to which she politely declines and instead decides to call for a cab. It is from then on that things start to get nightmarish.

It's certainly a limited concept with nothing much to play around, but given the circumstance it pulls it off splendidly. Aside from its predictability, the move's upside is the bypass of clichés, which in my opinion, is admirable. If you're looking for a substantial psychological thriller, look somewhere else. It doesn't really delve into the loonie guy's mind and attempt to extrapolate a certain cause and effect to his behavior; it doesn't rely on background at all. What it does is pick a clearly disturbed man and a pretty and victimized young woman, put them in a confined space and let the guy act out his demented plot, keeping the viewer on edge just because we really start to like Angela. And why? Because she seems to do all the right things unlike those countless foolish heroins in peril we've seen so many times. And if she fails over and over along her fight to escape, it's because the guy's really persistent. But aren't all crazies that way?

If you want to know the definition of thriller there are quite a few examples in its purest form, most notably the old school Hitchcockian movies, wherein Hitchcock himself referred to as 'Suspense'. This one, however falls right into that category with ease and surgical precision, no unnecessary dialogue or tear-jerking scenes. The honesty of its intentions is admirable and relatable.

The movies does what it does, just like in real life, steering away from pretentious make-believe and melodramatic, almost fabulous spin of circumstance.

It was Richard Matheson's story, first intended as a screen play for TV and subsequently rejected, Matheson decided to turn it into a novelette, being too short and lacking enough backstory and detail to be a full-length novel. Rather than describing Matheson's inspiration for the story and how he came about writing it, I'll put a link to a YouTube video in which he tells it himself:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I766_4-li14

The main protagonist is a wimpy middle class, middle-aged salesman headed for a business meeting. We're convinced he's on a tight schedule, checking his watch at the slightest delay in his trip, being kind of on edge and distracted in general. His anxiety soon turns into fright and panic shortly after the encounter with a rusty, greasy, and menacing-looking semi-trailer truck, which apparently had just rolled onto the road from a scrap yard with no delivery destination whatsoever, just a ghost truck out of nowhere, by the looks of it.

For reasons unknown the truck driver (which we never actually get a glimpse of) had decided to pick on David Mann, the travelling salesman in his shiny little red Plymouth Valiant with just over 4000 miles on the odometer. What makes it so unnerving is the fact that there's absolutely no justification for the truck driver's actions whatsoever. It just happens, no reasons and no confrontation, beside Mann overtaking the truck the first time for moving quite slowly and puffing too much semi-burned exhausts out its huge, chimney-looking exhaust pipe up the side of its shabby cabin.

Could this possibly be enough of a reason for the irrational behavior of the truck driver? I don't believe it, neither did Mann the first time he and we see that the trucker is not joking or playing around.

The extreme closeups show real emotion and strain in Mann's face, making us feel what he feels and fearing what he fears. Spielberg's way of shooting each particular scene is gust genius, from the occasional glimpse of the instrument panel gauges to the rumbling truck's big wheels from aside. Each scene tells the story where dialogue could not and would not suffice.

All the subtleties about Mann's weakness and lack of strong will are there, presented as the reason for each additional trouble he digs himself into.

It's time for Mann to be a Man, but would he stand up to the adversary? Would he confront his fears and destroy them in a one-on-one duel? I hoped so and, if you haven't seen this movie yet, you'll do too...

Prior to this episode we've been vaguely familiarised with Fox Mulder and his work and motivation. In Conduit, however, we have the opportunity, for the first time, to peek into agent Mulder's past and, probably, understand the driving force behind his obsession with his work and uncovering the truth.

The story opens at a campground at night ashore Lake Okobogee, where a single mother, Darlene Morris and her daughter and son are camping out. Darlene is awakened by the vibrations of the RV that is rapidly beginning to shake and rattle as a blinding light floods the scene, and the screams of her son calls her out for help. In the next moment she's outside the RV, as her son, Kevin worriedly informs her that Ruby's gone (his sister). She takes her son's hand as they go about calling for Ruby to no avail.

Personally I find this episode to possess the very primordial essence of the show's ambiance. I do have my doubts as to why I gave it 8 instead of 10 stars, but then again I do believe I have my reasons. Let's see if I can bring them to the surface.

Conduit is an attempt to wrap up the mythology up to this point and reinforce Mulder's quest for his sister, Samantha. The direction the writers' decided to pull the show in was pretty obvious but, what remains obscure, is the apocryphal way they took in going about doing that.

There are certain things that just don't add up quite. For example, the deliberate intentions to throw the viewer into doubt as to Ruby's fate by introducing an irrelevant character in the form of a trashy high school girl who winds up, as if by destiny, in the right time at the right place to tip off the agents about Ruby's disappearance.

The other thing that bothers me is the possible relation between Kevin's mental processing of binary messages by whoever or whatever, and his sister's abduction/disappearance. The episode failed to provide any, and I doubt I could possibly reach any meaningful interpretation, either.

Other than that I find it to be one of the best and most enjoyable episodes. No reason to belabor the point any longer.

Although it was recommended by Stephen King on his Twitter account, I am bound to cut the wood against the grain in this case.

Many people get caught up in their logic regarding films where logic is the magic killer. The whole picture hangs on suspension of disbelieve. It started off well, I was sincerely hoping that this time a bunch of enthusiastic horror movie buffs had gotten together to create something tangible and refreshing, however all my hopes were cut short once it got going. For once I want to see a film of this kind that relies on science and a dose of reality to go with it. Reality as it is is stranger than fiction, after all. We don't have to be involved in a supernatural seance and walked through a religious sermon and moral lesson as to credit the film with artistic value. I believe I'd have been more sympathetic with the protagonists, and probably more personally involved in the story as a whole, if they just happened to be involved in a situation where their ordeal would have to be resolved by their expertise in what they're doing without falling victim to something beyond their understanding and abilities to face off.

The only redeemable things in this movie are the picturesque location of its filming and the two-dime jokes exchanged between the characters. Now with that aside we can move onto the main aspects of this doomed production. The premise to the story warms us up to the absurd context that evolves quickly, and, then even more quickly devolves after the establishment of the conflict to a climax that makes you cringe, not in suspense but at the sheer farce of a situation involving guns, puck up trucks, booby traps, a helicopter, a cow hanging from the helicopter, and, of course, a giant crocodile that seems to be popping up (conveniently enough) in all the right places at all the right times. Now, I don't know if the real intention behind the film is to be scary or funny or scientific, or all, but one thing I do know for sure, is that it fails at every one those levels.

The summary to the movie is well-known. Going a little further into its timeline, we get to the scene where Kelly Scott, a museum palaeontologist, is told by her boss, Kevin, that 'some guy' gets killed up in Maine by something, probably a bear, and that they'd found a fragment of a tooth, probably belonging to the animal responsible for the guy's death, and that he wants her to go up there and examine it as to determine the kind of the animal. Oddly enough, he didn't mention that the sheriff was present when that particular killing took place, and being a mountain guy, he'd probably be familiar with the fact that bears don't attack from underwater in the middle of a deep lake. To me that was the first clue to the fact that this movie was not to be taken at face value. Even though the overall story was a crippled version of Jaws, I still found some enjoyable moments in the movie, especially those long shots of the magnificent locations. My advice? Don't count on learning anything about real life croc behaviour or the authority procedure in such a case. I also found amusement, yet again, at the oh so familiar American way of being too philosophical about everything- to kill the croc or not to kill it? Yeah, that was going for a while...

The first time I watched the movie, I wasn't much impressed, giving it only 6 stars. Then I decided to read the book, which, I think, is a pure masterpiece, intense and reaaaaaaaly dark and oppressive, alluding quite often in its theme and metaphors to real-life misery and struggles, etc. After reading the book, I thought of the film, viewing it in my mind through a different perspective. The book was the prism that reflected the beauty of the film in my mind and created a picture where I could re- discover the grandeur of this cinematic work. The acting is terrific, the atmosphere is unique and the scrip and camera work make for a perfect symbiosis. My final rating is: 10.