The Name of the Rose
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Movie Reviews of The Name of the Rose
Movie Review: A monastic Holmes, sort of
Summary: 3 Stars
A complicated murder mystery set in a monastery in the 1300s, monks are being killed and Sean Connery, in a role very much in the style of Sherlock Holmes, sets about figuring it out. It finally boils down to an ancient Greek text, a comedy, that is hidden away in the secret library. I won't reveal any more than that. At 130 minutes it's way too long, and much of it has the feel of a hodge-podge. Filmed in Frankfurt and Rome; the library of hidden treasures was "burned" using special effects.Movie Review: A film about God, science, fear and laughter
Summary: 4 Stars
Unfairly maligned, this well made but flawed atmosperhic adaptation of Umberto Eco's novel manages to capture the flavor of the book quite well. Someone expecting Eco's novel would be advised to look elsehwere; film is a narrative medium and Eco's complex novel had to be boiled down to the essential story at the heart of his penetrating look at Christianty in the middle ages. The film features an outstanding performance from Sean Connery as William of Baskerville (a nice tug of the forelock to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes) Franciscan monk who uses science to understand the mysteries of our world and in service of God.
William travels to a monestary with a young apprentice Adso of Monk (Christian Slater)to debate the issue of Christ's poverty with representatives of the pope. Just before he arrives a young monk is killed. William dives int trying to solve the mystery of the boy's death when he realises that the clues don't quite add up. Suddenly the body count increases as more and more monks mysterious vanish or die. What terrible secret is the murderer trying to hide? Just as William thinks he may have the answer inquisitor Bernardo Gui (F. Murray Abraham) arrives with a quick and easy solution; it's the work of the devil. Bernardo hates William's passion for science believing him to be nothing more than a heretic in a monk's robe. William has little time because Bernardo will indict the monk of hersey if he can.
Director Jean-Jacques Annaud ("The Bear", "Seven Years in Tibet", "Black and White in Color", "The Lover") tackles the challenging material admirably recreating 14th century Europe in intimate detail. The gritty locations and creation of a monestary for the film (Annaud couldn't find the location he wanted so much of his budget went into building a 12th century monestary on location. The DVD box states in error that the film was shot at a 12th century monestary.)help impart a sense of realism to the movie. The diverse cast reflects (according to Annaud)the fact that monks from all around Europe would live in a monestary doing God's work and illuminating (illustrating) biblical texts. The final screenplay by Andrew Birkin (one among four credited writers "King David", "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc")manages to distill the important story points of Eco's novel and Annaud creates the world around it that was so skillfully portrayed in the book.
Featuring a sharp looking transfer, the DVD of "The Name of the Rose" looks remarkably good although some of the sequences are a bit too dark. The use of a high speed grainy film enhances the sense of gritty reality for the film and isn't a flaw of the transfer. The remastered soundtrack available in Dolby Digital 5.1 for the first time makes good use of the surround channels smothering the viewer in the atmosphere of the middle ages.
As usual Warner Home Video has done an outstanding job with the extras; we get an hour documentary on the making of the film originally shot for German TV. Unfortunately, the narration is in German so you end up having to read Connery and the other actors/crew members comments in the subtitles. It's an extremely well done documentary that captures the behind-the-scenes intimate moments frequently missed in these types of productions. There's also an exceptional photo video journey with the director. We also get the original theatrical trailer.
The best part of this DVD is the informative commentary track by director Annaud. He doesn't blather away but only speaks up when he actually has something interesting to say about a particular shot or share a behind-the-scenes story about the production. Annaud comes down hard on actor F. Murray Abraham noting that his Oscar win inflated Abraham's ego to such a degree that he was extremely difficult to work with during shooting. Abraham insisted that Connery had to arrive at the set first because Abraham was an Oscar winner and Connery wasn't. We also find out quite a bit of detail about the building of and location shooting of the sets and his unusual casting decisions. He extols the virtues of actor Ron Perlman stating that he was a delight to work with and literally made it a joy to come to work with every day. Likewise, he discusses the challenges of working with Connery who was much more established than Annaud at this time. Nevertheless, they had a marvelous time working together with Connery taking a keen interest in the production. Interestingly, Annaud had to fight for Connery in the role. After a series of flops, his star power had dimmed and Michael Caine and Albert Finney were first choices for the role by the studio. The low lighting and dimished budget proved to be a challenge to the director; he couldn't afford a dolly for the film nor could he afford the time to have his director of photography Tonino Delli Colli (a frequent Fellini collaborator)light the set for complex cameramoves. Annaud points out that many of the shots are static and those that aren't are simple pans. He also discusses actor Helmut Qualting a hero during who fought against the Nazi party during World War II. It seems Qualting frequently forgot his lines or would pause during the takes because he was in enormous pain during the shooting. He died shortly after completing his role.
An unusual mystery that doesn't focus on whodunnit but, instead, on why (were clued in early as to who the murderer might be), "The Name of the Rose" hasn't wilted with time but has actually bloomed. This rose has many thorns that make it a less than perfectly smooth mystery but given the challenges that director Annaud faced, it's still one that smells sweet.
Movie Review: Everything's Coming Up...
Summary: 5 Stars
gripping story that took me in a different place... clear transfer and vivid color.. nice 5.1 sound.. sean connery in his typical acting style.. and a young christian slater showed promise.. delicate scenes intact...
great film... and great packaging btw.
Movie Review: A travesty
Summary: 1 Stars
Umberto Eco's complex, multi-layered masterpiece is butchered beyond recognition in what may be the single worst film adaptation of a major novel in cinematic history, although it will be enjoyable to Sean Connery fans who haven't read the book.
Quite frankly, as a movie, it's not at all bad, and were I not a huge fan of the novel, I'd probably have enjoyed it, but as an adaptation of one of the most significant literary works of the last half century, it just doesn't work: Eco's semiotic/political/philosophical treatise is trivialized to the most superficial aspects of the Sherlock Holmes-meets-Brother Cadfael medieval detective story, with *major* plot alterations that may work cinematically, but will leave devoted readers tearing their hair out in frustration at what could have been done with a production team that actually understood what Eco was saying in the novel.
Movie Review: for the most part, an abomination
Summary: 2 Stars
An utterly horrendous adaptation of one of my all-time favorite novels. It completely misses the point by focusing exclusively on the murder mystery (and it doesn't even do that well), when in fact that was simply Eco's device for framing a post-modern reflection on the downfall of the seemingly impregnible edifice ("aedificium") of human reason. The film makes the monks seem like dull-witted cretins, when in the novel (and as a matter of historical fact) they were the scholars and intelligentia of the time. The protagonist, William of Baskerville (played by Sean Connery), is portrayed as an infallible sleuth who gets everything right, whereas the novel emphasizes that William, despite his razor sharp acumen, each time only stumbles upon the right answers by accident, i.e., irrationally. The single sex scene is done to excess, and the bitter end of Adso's romance is completely altered, undoing the sense of tragedy at the hands of a fanatical devotion to "truth". The importance of "the forbidden book" is never adequately conveyed, leaving the viewer with no sense of why people were murdered for it in the first place. I can go on and on, but my frustration at this movie should be clear enough. 1 star because I have to, a second for the scenery, which was quite good and captured my own sense of what the monastery and its environs would have looked like.