There is more to live than revenge, he says, a lesson that a hate-filled Edmond does not want to hear. He tells Edmond to use the treasure for good and reminds him that it doesn’t matter if he believes in God, He believes in him. Photo: Touchstone Pictures.Īn accident results in the death of Faria, but this gives Edmond the opportunity to escape, taking with him a map that the priest has hidden all these years that leads to the location of the amazing treasure of Spada. The next nine years pass by in a blur, as the two men dig and Edmond learns economics, politics, languages, reading, writing, and swordplay, to name a few skills. For the first four years, he counts the rocks in his cell and maintains the carving that reads “God will give me justice.” Edmond begins to lose hope until another prisoner pops his head into his cell, the Abbe Faria.įaria is trying to dig his way out and offers to teach Edmond everything he knows in exchange for Edmond’s assistance. Although it is apparent that he is innocent, Edmond is caught up in the schemes of the jealous and the ambitious as the prosecutor sends him to the Chateau d’If, the place where, as the Warden says, only the innocent actually go.įor thirteen years, he is there, kept alive by hate. Here, the audience learns that Fernand saw the conversation between Napoleon and Fernand is, in addition to jealous about the other things, also is hurt by what he sees as a betrayal – Edmond not confiding in him. The first mate, Danglars, and Fernand begin talking about Edmond. For his bravery, Edmond is made a captain, and Fernand is jealous of that as well. She and Edmond are in love and Fernand is jealous of that.
You see, Edmond has a fiancé who also grew up with the boys: Mercedes. Of course, when the ship arrives in Marseille we discover that not everything is happy in Edmond’s life, although he, himself, is happy. Is this really a character flaw? No, not at all, but in Edmond’s case, it opens up the door to some serious problems. He is idealistic, loving, loyal, and he tries to always see the best in everyone. The opening scene tells us, basically, everything that we need to know about our hero. Napoleon tells Edmond that he has a secret letter for a friend and asks him to deliver it for him in secret, which Edmond reluctantly agrees to. Fearing the death of his superior, Edmond risks his life (and that of his best friend, Fernand Mondego, who insists on going with him) to get his captain to medical attention.įernand and Edmond prove to be a good team as they fight on Elba, and the knowledge that they have been friends for years makes their friendship seem sincere. Of course, the young and idealistic Edmond Dantes and his ship find themselves in the area of Elba when the captain takes sick. Napoleon has been exiled to the island of Elba and the British are determined that he not escape. The other characters are also brilliantly cast, giving life and emotion to characters that I had already grown to love they came dancing off of the pages and I loved that. The range of emotion that the Count has to go through in the 16 years portrayed in the film is truly amazing to watch.ĭagmara Dominczyk plays Mercedes, Richard Harris plays Abbe Faria and a young Henry Cavill plays Albert Mondego. Caviezel is able to play the wide-eyed and innocent Edmond, the cynical and angry prisoner and the vengeful and hate-filled Count.
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Of course, a large part of the credit for making this movie great must go to Jim Caviezel in his role as Edmond Dantes, the Count of Monte Cristo himself. Everyone had warned my class that the book and the movie were extremely different and that we would be disappointed if we watched it, but I wanted to watch it anyway. There were some things that were annoying (like the amount of time spent in prison and a few other details), but I loved the way it packed a monster of a book into a two-hour film that still managed to convey the spirit of the novel.Įven though some of the subplots were removed, the same sense of revenge, the fight for justice on an epic scale, the plotting and the betrayal all still come shining through. I think this comes partially from the acting by Guy Pearce, brilliantly conniving and slimy as Fernand Mondego, and from the way he and Jim Caviezel portrayed the friendship (and later enemy-ship) between the two men. Then, later that same year, I saw this film. Dumas usually does endings so well, so I was surprised and disappointed. I had just finished reading Alexander Dumas’ epic masterpiece The Count of Monte Cristo for the first time and, although I loved the book and would still consider it one of my favorites today, I found myself less than enchanted with the ending.
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