Mystic River (Widescreen Edition)
List Price:
Our Price: $1.85
You Save: $18.13 (91%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Sean Penn, Tim RobbinsBrand: BACON,KEVIN
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Surround Sound, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 138 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-06-08
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of Mystic River (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: TO LOVE MERCY MORE THAN JUSTICE
Summary: 5 Stars
It is said the further the Irish get from the holy soil of Erin the crazier they get. Since the immigrations from Ireland following the Great Hunger, there are more "Irish" in America than there are in the Emerald Isle. Given that most "Irish" families have been American families for several generations now and the high rate of marriage with members of other ethnic groups, it is of some note that customs and attitudes from the old country persist. All three main characters are sons of Ireland living in the New World. . But their "Irishness" is also not an accident. Others liken MYSTIC RIVER to a cinematic dissection of middle class life. But this misses the point. Instead of keeping the people in this film at a distance and offering contempt for modern American life, MYSTIC RIVER holds these men in sympathy and respect while mediating on the theme of justice.
There are three notions of justice working themselves out in the imponderables of the murder of a teenage girl. Sean is a policeman who works in a world of correct processes, written and codified rules, and a system of rights created to replace the justice of revenge and "eye for an eye". Crimes are no longer committed against an individual but are transgressions against the modern civil society itself. Civil justice replaces the hot-blooded execution of revenge with the detached, cool tempered administration of law. Civil law is seen as more rational and humane-replacing the perpetual war between clans. Families and individuals cannot be trusted to carry out "justice" because their real interest lies in personal vindication and protection for which there are no clear limits in pursuing those ends. Civil justice labors to protect the accused from miscarriages of justice-swearing it is better 10 guilty go free than to wrongly punish one innocent. The dark side of civil justice is that the guilty frequently escape punishment.
Much older is the unwritten code of tribal justice. This justice is so old that it seems bred into the bone--appearing almost phantomlike from the deep forests of primordial memory. It is blood for blood. Wound for wound. Tribal justice sees revenge not as an evil but a duty full-blooded men and women must fulfill. Taking revenge is a sacred duty that sates personal rage and is an obligation. Honor must be defended. The blood of a loved one must not be spilt without vindicating his memory. But wrong blood may be spilt. The innocent may be punished. The guilty may be punished beyond measure. Vindication and revenge often stop at nothing. Yet in spite of all the advances in the administration of civil justice, it is the rare human being who does not hear the call of tribal justice.
But there is another justice that is unnamable and more savage at work in spite of the efforts and safeguards of human justice. Call it karma or fate, there is a far older, ancient justice ineffable to human understanding. It is a power that flows into the lives of men and women from some unknown place whose purposes are never understood but rules far more ruthlessly and pitilessly than we can withstand. Like a mighty river, it cannot be stopped; yet the smallest gestures can change its course.
MYSTIC RIVER is a tale of these three modes of justice weaving in and out. Sean the policeman knows of the revenge murders Jimmy has committed yet keeps these secrets to himself. Jimmy experiences crippling guilt after carrying out revenge only to find out it was the wrong man. A horrendous crime has ruined Dave's life-but neither civil nor tribal justice provided vindication-so his past drives him insane. Several times during the story, characters ask themselves "what if I had done something different long ago" questions. But these questions are unanswerable and cannot change the past. At end of the movie, primordial righteousness has wrecked its justice in the lives of Sean, Dave and Jimmy. In an odd way, everything has been put aright. The price of justice is far too high; but it will be paid and not always to our betterment. Against heartless fate, we can only tender apologies, ask for forgiveness, and offer absolution. More surely than justice, these change hearts and afford mercy.
Sean does not act against Jimmy's crimes because they were not done with "criminal" intent. Jimmy was carrying out the demands of tribal justice and not merely to advance his own self-interest. Sean is all too aware of the imperfections of civil justice. The biggest thieves are honored while the little thieves are left to rot in prison all their days. Sean does not justify what Jimmy did; but he will not destroy and further damage the effected families and community just to satisfy the demands of civil justice.
Likewise, Jimmy's wife responds to his crimes with love and forgiveness because she sees Jimmy's great heart and love for his family. As she says, Jimmy is a king and a king must do what he must. If he made a mistake it was out of love and not malice. She clings to Jimmy because she trusts his heart.
Dave's wife has no such fortune. She has no such ground to cling to Dave. She cannot trust either his motives or his word. His crime redeemes no one and does not vindicate anything more than his own personal demons. While we have sympathy for him, Dave's own madness destroys him and threatens to take down all whom he loves.
The mysterious justice symbolized by the Mystic River rolled on and has done its work. Its justice is inexplicable and unsettling. Its judgments are final and undisclosed to us. Yet in the face of all this, the most powerful words spoken are "I want you to know I'm sorry" by Sean. And it is these words that bring his life out of unhappiness into a new and gentle place.
Summary of Mystic River (Widescreen Edition)
Drama. Mystic River tells the story of three men whose dark, interwoven history forces them to come to terms with a brutal murder on the mean streets of Boston.Superior acting, writing, and direction are on impressive display in the critically acclaimed Mystic River, Clint Eastwood's 24th directorial outing and one of the finest films of 2003. Sharply adapted by L.A. Confidential Oscar-winner Brian Helgeland from the novel by Dennis Lehane, this chilling mystery revolves around three boyhood friends in working-class Boston--played as adults by Tim Robbins, Sean Penn, and Kevin Bacon--drawn together by a crime from the past and a murder (of the Penn character's 19-year-old daughter) in the present. These dual tragedies arouse a vicious cycle of suspicion, guilt, and repressed anxieties, primed to explode with devastating and unpredictable results. Eastwood is perfectly in tune with this brooding material, giving his flawless cast (including Laura Linney, Marcia Gay Harden and Laurence Fishburne) ample opportunity to plumb the depths of a resonant human tragedy, leading to an ambiguous ending that qualifies Mystic River for contemporary classic status. --Jeff Shannon
Similar DVD Movies
21 GramsUNI DIST CORP. (MCA); Release date: 2004-03-16; Published: 2004-03-01; DVD
Best price: $3.69
Price in other shops:
Good Will Hunting (Miramax Collector's Series)Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 1998-12-08; DVD
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Gran TorinoWHV; Release date: 2010-06-01; DVD
Best price: $5.29
Price in other shops:
There Will Be BloodParamount; Release date: 2008-04-08; Published: 2008-04-01; DVD
Best price: $4.51
Price in other shops:
The Departed (Single-Disc Widescreen Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-02-13; DVD
Best price: $2.85
Price in other shops:
The TownWHV; Release date: 2010-12-17; DVD
Best price: $5.45
Price in other shops:
SleepersWarner; Release date: 1997-04-01; DVD
Best price: $2.90
Price in other shops:
Gone Baby Goneby Casey Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris
Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2008-02-12; DVD
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
The Shawshank Redemption (Single-Disc Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-05-15; DVD
Best price: $4.67
Price in other shops:
Million Dollar BabyWarner Brothers; Release date: 2010-06-01; DVD
Best price: $2.85
Price in other shops: