About The Count: Cause I'm Thinking About Forgiviness

Post 710:

The Count of Monte Cristo was released in 2002 and I think it met with generally sunny accalim. I’ve never known anyone to dislike the film. As far as movies about French guys that are falsely imprisoned and then find tons of treasure, it’s right up there with the best. This little deal will assume you’ve seen it. Done been warned.

The book is better, but a little more complicated, and I can’t make my point as easily if I reference it. Sorry Alexander Dumas. You’re the man and deserve better. Two of the all-time bests. That’s two more than most.

The ending is what I want to get into more than anything. By now, Edmond Dantes, our mysterious count, has systematically stripped his enemies of any chance at a future. He’s utterly decimated them on every level. It’s a revenge fantasy through and through, and maybe we could leave it there. Who doesn’t dream of having their betrayers receive their just desserts?

Remember, movie. Book people, there’s some departures.

Okay, so Dantes makes everyone pay. We needed to see this. We wanted to see this. The bad guys shouldn’t get to win after all the winning they’ve been doing at Edmund’s expense. No fair. Justice. We want justice.

But the deal is called the The Count of Monte Cristo, not the Thing About Swords and Justice in France.

Dantes’ redemptive arc is the point in the film, and he finally gets there. At the end, after besting the villainous Mondego, he tells him to leave. He wants no more revenge. This is the completion of his journey. Yes, he’s won the corporeal gifts, but the renewal of spirit is the real reward. In sports, we call this being a good winner. Magnanimous. A.K.A., not a turd.

But would we really be okay with our hero being heroic and leaving it at that? What if Mondego just kept riding? Is the story too intense for our bloodlust not to be sated? Are we as capable of forgiveness, knowing Mondego is out there, not brushing his teeth? I’m asking the question. Maybe you’re cool with it, maybe not. It’s up to the watcher perhaps, but it asks questions about the way we read and view stories. Is Mondego’s death the only way we can get catharsis from this tale? Not sure. That’s what the storytellers thought. We don’t judge here. We forgive either way.

I’ll let you be the judge the veracity of that claim. Cheers and see you after.