"How did I escape? With difficulty.
How did I plan this moment? With pleasure."
Hello everyone!
This week is going to be a bit Alexandre Dumas-coloured, if I do say so myself. I've been meaning to do something of the sort for a LONG time, but unfortunately, other things kept on happening and distracting me, this included but not limited to Rick Riordan and his books popping in and out of my reading list.
Yeah, I should probably dial down on the whole Jack the Sword quotations, right?
Anyway.
A while ago (this being now a long while ago) I decided, for some reason, to sit down and read The Count of Monte Cristo from beginning to end. As luck would have it, this took a bit (that thing is HUGE).
As luck would ALSO have it, in the meantime they aired the movie adaptation on television, though I had to double back and watch it later on as well because ... let's face it, I missed the whole beginning.
With that in mind, let's launch into our Monte Cristo-themed week!
I'll admit,
I remembered I had these reviews waiting to be posted online when I saw last week's Once Upon A Time episode which introduces our interpid Count as he goes and skewers one of his ball guests. Then, of course, the Evil Queen comes along and makes him a shady deal.
The one upside of that episode was Rumple in his usual, diabolical skin. That's the BEST Rumple all around.
But seeing the Count reminded me of both the movie AND the book reviews waiting to be typed out appropriately, so I dug out my faithful little sheep-y and decided this week would be the week (would have been better last week, I know, but last week Poldark took precedence as it marked its halfway point of the season).
So pretty much everyone and their mother has, by this point, heard of Monte Cristo and the story. The basic gist of it is this: there was this young sailor (with a fiancée) who got caught up in a Napoleon-esque plot without knowing it, ended up in prison (sans fiancée) while his supposed best friend married the woman of his dreams (THAT fiancée, yes) and went on to become wealthy, as did the rest of the conspirators who got rid of this Edmond Dantes. Dantes, however, escaped his prison after years of willing away time inside it, found an ancient treasure, remade himself into Monte Cristo, and returned to Paris to bring vengeance on those who got him caught in the first place. Succeeding, he and the love of his life then live happily ever after.
The end.
If only it were that simple.
Coincidentally, the movie is quite different from the book in terms of characters and locations, but I can't blame the film makers because the sheer number of people involved in the whole thing is such that my head hurt after reading only one chapter!
So we get a watered-down version of Dumas' story, but that doesn't mean it's any worse.
Dantes (Jim Caviezel) does, in fact, get caught in this Napoleon plot, because he and his crew hang around Elba for a while as their captain dies, and Napoleon himself hands over a letter, which the poor, innocent Dantes takes, of course (this is a mistake he will NOT be making in the future). This letter will later on land him in prison, especially because he doesn't know that the names he so naively drops along the way during interrogation would implicate a lot of powerful people.
Hence, these powerful people end up locking him and throwing away the key.
Fernand, his would-be best friend and erstwhile jilted lover of Mercedez, who loves Dantes with all her heart, does get his hand on Mercedes, but not because of the reason he thinks.
More on that later.
In prison, Dantes is befriended by an eccentric old priest who's digging his way out through an underground tunnel, and who also tells the younger man about a hidden treasure. Also, he teaches him everything he knows (priests at the time being quite worldly and educated), this including economy, geometry, languages, fencing, etc.
Unfortunately, the poor man dies, and Dantes takes his place to be buries, but somehow he didn't factor in that their prison is basically a mansion on top of a slab of rock in the middle of the sea.
Hmmm, I WONDER how they bury people there?!
After a near-death experience by drowning in a burlap sack, Dantes is picked up by pirates on a beach where he earns their gratitude and respect through a duel, and joins them by a pirate name, Zatarra, trekking along until they reach Marseille again.
There, he and his faithful manservant (once pirate-in-arms) go about establishing him as the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo.
Oh, yeah, did I mention he does in fact find the treasure? He does. Dives for it, too, and comes up trumps as the richest man in Paris, once he eventually gets there (along the road he rescues a young man named Albert (played by Henry Cavill) who thinks he met his saviour ... in reality Dantes orchestrated that one so he can infiltrate polite society through him).
In Paris, he finds the people he's been looking for, who've placed him in jail, and goes about dispatching them one by one.
He also finds Mercedez, mother of Albert, who is the only one to recognize Dantes in Monte Cristo because he has this habit of twirling his hair around his fingers when thinking or speaking. And Dantes can't bring himself to hate either mother or son because, let's face it, they're pretty much innocent.
Skillfully preparing a trap with supposed treasure to lure out the rats, he manages to catch two of the three original conspirators, but Fernand, broke and despairing, has gone to ground.
We do learn an important piece of information though: Albert is actually the son of Edmond Dantes, NOT Fernand. Mercedez only married the man so quickly because she knew, at the time of the imprisonment, that she was pregnant.
Quick thinking FTW!
The story doesn't end here, however, as Edmond and Fernand face off in a dashing sword fight, interrupted once by the young Albert who very foolishly ends up as potential target.
The secret of his parentage now out, Edmond and his pirate manservant finish it once and for all, and now it's finally time to relax! The Count of Monte Cristo returns to his prison, which he has now bought, promising the priest he would use his wealth and power only for good; he walks away with the people loyal to him.
It is, in essence, the story which we know and love, even if it is quite simplified. A bunch of side-stories were ommitted for the silver screen, but I wasn't actually bothered by it. The movie was interesting, with the proper amount of action, and a love story which made me smile.
Also, Jim Caviezel was a very good choice for Dantes. VERY good choice.
And of course, irony of irones, James Frain makes an appearance in this movie. The man literally can't be left out if there's a period something to be filmed.
If you have yet to acquaint yourself with the story of Monte Cristo, I suggest watching the movie if you don't feel like reading through a thousand pages and characters. But I do also recommend the book, the review of which I will be posting this coming Thursday!
Oh, yeah, Revenge is also a good show to watch. That, too.
xx
*images and video not mine
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