The Count of Monte Cristo

Review by Garnet Brooks

This film is an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' book of the same name. The film stars Jim Caviezel, Guy Pierce, and Richard Harris. In reducing it to film length a good deal of the book's thousand page material is left out or altered.

Edmond Dantes is a trusting and naive young man who is happily employed aboard a ship and who is about to be married to his love. On a voyage, his captain becomes ill with a brain fever and Dantes in defiance of the first mate Danglers rows to shore on Elba in order to save the life of his captain. His best friend Fernand Mondego goes with him. Contact with anyone on Elba is forbidden for the island is the prison of Napoleon Bonaparte who has been exiled there. The political climate is turbulent in France and there is a conspiracy to free Napoleon and return him to power. Dantes' captain dies. Napoleon secretly gives Dantes a letter which he says is harmless and he asks Dantes to wait till someone contacts him to receive the missive. Dantes is foolish enough to agree to this. Though he does not know it, Mondego has seen him take the letter.

Back in port at Marseilles the owner of the shipping company, a man named Morrell, promotes Dantes to captain because of his efforts. Danglers is furious. Dantes can now ask his love Mercedes to marry him right away. His happiness is short lived though. He has enemies. Mondego envies him and wants Mercedes for himself. Danglers and Mondego plot together. Dantes is reported to the local prosecutor. This man Villefort demands to see the letter. He is convinced that Dantes is innocent and is about to let him go. Fate has something else in store for the man. Dantes names the courier who is to pick up the letter. The man is Villefort's father, M. Clarion. The father is a Bonaparte sympathizer and the son is ashamed of it. In the political climate it would have doomed Villefort's chances for high office if anyone knew who his father was. Villefort sees his chance to cover up the scandal forever and he spirits Dantes away to the infamous Chateau d'If prison. His family and friends try to get him released. They are told he is dead.

Dantes is imprisoned on an island in a castle of stone. He is there alone without hope for five years till another man tunnels his way into Dantes' chamber. The man is a priest, Abbe Faria. The priest is also a man of learning. He teaches Dantes to read and then gives him a lengthy education as they tunnel together trying still to get out. The abbe was also a soldier before he turned to god and he teaches Dante to fight. They are near the exterior wall of the chateau when the tunnel collapses injuring Abbe Faria. Before he dies he imparts a secret map to Dantes. With it Dantes can find the treasure of a fabulously wealthy man named Spada. Dantes has an idea for escape. He sews himself up in the canvas shroud instead of the priest and he is taken out of Chateau D'If. He does not realize that what they do with the dead bodies is throw them over a high cliff into the sea below. Still, he manages to get free of the death shroud and swim away to a nearby island.

Swimming to shore, Dantes is confronted with a band of brigands. He has to fight for his life and in doing so he wins a place among them. He also wins a friend for life, Jacopo. He ships out with the brigands seeing the world and earning his keep. He parts with them on good terms taking Jacopo with him. He makes his way to the Island of Monte Cristo and finds the treasure in a grotto there. Now Dantes is ready to implement a plan of vengeance against those who betrayed him. He finds that his fiance Mercedes married Mondego only a month after his presumed death. Dantes buys an estate and enters French society setting up an elaborate plan to cause his enemies to suffer and bring them to ruin. He finds that Mercedes has a son named Albert and uses the boy to further the plot.

The film is dramatic and action filled. It has its nicely done sword fights. There is a kidnapping and daring rescue. The action takes place in beautiful settings. The sea in and around Marseilles and Monte Cristo is magnificent. Both the Chateau d'If and the island treasure setting have vast cavernous spaces. It takes place on grand ships and in even grander drawing rooms. The props and the costumes are lovely. When Monte Cristo is introduced to society he arrives at night amid fireworks in a balloon. Orientally clad servants pirouette and climb as the balloon descends.

The film is a good one despite the departures from the book. The DVD version has especially nice extras. It has the usual director's audio commentary. There is a segment on production design in rendering the Napoleonic Era. The segment on author Alexandre Dumas is particularly well-done. It has a segment about the choreography of the sword fights. There is the usual deleted scene feature.