The Celestine Prophecy, directed by Armand Mastroianinni, is based on the New Age book by James Redfield. John (played by Matthew Settle) has just been laid off as a schoolteacher due to lack of funds in his school district, so he has time on his hands. A friend tips him off that there is something extraordinary in the Peruvian rainforest—a recent discovery at Vicientia of ancient scrolls that speak to the modern day. When John arrives in Lima (filming is actually in Florida and Puerto Rico), he finds that the government, in cahoots with the Catholic Cardinal Sebastian (played by Hector Elizondo), feels threatened by the discovery. A Catholic priest sympathetic to the message in the scrolls, Father José (played by Castulo Guerra), is killed shortly after John’s arrival. John then flees for his life down streets of a strange city. Spotted by Wil (played by Thomas Kretschmann), he is given shelter from the pursuit. Wil decides to go to Vicientia, a colony of believers in the prophecy, to take refuge in order to avoid his own likely arrest. John goes along and begins to learn about the prophecy, which is contained on scrolls dating from 65 BC. Far too many conversations ensue about the scrolls, without supplying much content about the prophecy, so filmviewers will doubtless become impatient to learn the message. Rebels are also featured from time to time, but not their specific complaints about government misrule. The only principle revealed early in the film is that people should no longer try to impose their ways on others, as in so doing they take energy from them. At the end of the film, the government destroys Vicientia, imprisons members of the colony, and the nine prophecies appear as short titles (from much longer scrolls!) that appear on the screen after the last action in the film. The nine prophecies are basically Buddhist, but are interpreted to argue that human evolution awaits acceptance of the principle that everyone should give support (energy) to everyone else, whereupon the human race can be uplifted to a nirvana that will ease the transition to heaven. MH
I
want to comment on this film
