The Bridge of San Luis Rey (2005)

Who payed the critics

Just so...so bad

From my favorite movies..

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Have you ever spoken with a person who relates a long drawn out event but seems more intent on throwing in reams of peripheral details and window dressing rather than coming to the point? Well this production does exactly that. Artistically and dramatically this film is sound and in some respects exemplary, however I constantly found my mind wandering as the scenes dragged on. In addition, the setting was flawed. The filth, squalor and disease that permeated Spanish colonies was largely hidden in favor of a squeaky clean environment of immaculate costumes, elaborate furnishings and polite and orderly peasantry.Part of me was tempted to re-view the production to gain a heightened appreciation of the characters and their interaction but I quickly dismissed the thought, lest I fall asleep and miss something more gratifying.

Books can be tough to film unless they are straightforward stories, as "The Godfather" or "Lonesome Dove". "The Bridge of San Luis Rey", besides being written in a gorgeous, simple, lyrical style, has an inner faucet of irony that drips nearly all the way through. We are looking into a world that we are allowed to feel above, but that we are gradually drawn into by the sufferings and humanity of the characters, till quiet thunder explodes in perhaps the most memorable closing lines in American Literature. That would not be easy to film. The first question a director must ask, narrative or no narrative?. To add narrative allows that overview that is irony but can detract from reality of the scenes reducing their emotional impact. To go without forces a more linear stream that loses that overview and is tricky, requiring balance and intuition to arrive at the ending with impact. I'm afraid the director lacked either quality, or was so intimidated by the star laden cast that she bowed to their wishes. At any rate the movie isn't much short of travesty, telling neither a fathomable story or creating a mythic quality that might have replaced it. It is splashy, disjointed, and incoherent. If you haven't read the book please don't judge it by this movie. "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" is one of the finest works in the language. The movie, for all its good intentions, fails in just about every way of expressing what the book is about.

I loved this movie. I did have to watch it twice in order to follow all the names and details. I had a hard time believing Kathy Bates as a Spanish Dona, and found Robert DeNiro's role as a Spanish archbishop also very odd. But that didn't keep me from enjoying it. It left me with a strange sense of awareness at how our lives are all intertwined in one way or another. The music to it stuck with me for days. There was also something about the time and period that grabbed me and stuck in my heart, 'though I don't know why. Call me wimpy or whatever, but I sat there and thought about it for a long time after it was over, and then I cried. I'd watch it again and again if I had the DVD (I rented it).

Stunning period drama set in decadent colonial Peru. It is all very confusing with continuity problems, but nevertheless a wonderful piece. But Kathy Bates as a Spanish aristocrat! please!!! Kept expecting Harvey Keitel to jump into a yellow cab any moment. Robert DiNiro as a Bishop .... what a disaster... who were the twins? what was that all about? The bridge scene is great though. I thought the art direction was impeccable and a great score. The DVD has some interesting behind the scenes views. All in all the set locations were well done all shot in Andalucia and southern Spain, all very authentic except that Kathy Bates comes blustering in straight off the set of Frazier trying so hard to be some how all Spanish, Catholic and Aristocratic (ie everything she is not) and blowing it completely