 Tagline: They Believed In God But Traded With The Devil. It's the work of the Devil. That's what some say when a bizarre series of deaths strikes a 14th-century monastery. Others find links between the deaths and the book of Revelation. But Brother William of Baskerville thinks otherwise. He intends to find a murderer by using fact and reason - the tools of heresy. Best Actor British Academy Award winner Sean Connery is wily William in this compelling adaptation of Umberto Eco's bestseller. Christian Slater plays Adso, aide to the sleuthing cleric and a youth on the verge of sexual and intellectual awakening. F. Murray Abraham is arrogance incarnate as the Inquisitor. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud filmed this moody mystery at an actual 12th-century monastery where hooded faces loom like gargoyles. Storyline: 1327: after a mysterious death in a Benedictine Abbey, the monks are convinced that the apocalypse is coming. With the Abbey to play host to a council on the Franciscan's Order's belief that the Church should rid itself of wealth, William of Baskerville, a respected Franciscan monk, is asked to assist in determining the cause of the untimely death. Alas, more deaths occur as the investigation draws closer to uncovering the secret the Abbey wants hidden, and there is finally no stopping the Holy Inquisition from taking an active hand in the process. William and his young novice must race against time to prove the innocence of the unjustly accused and avoid the wrath of Holy Inquisitor Bernardo Gui. Written by Rick Munoz Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, July 26, 2011 -- Have your reference books at your side when you watch The Name of the Rose. The first thing you're going to want to look up is the word "palimpsest," which crops up immediately in the opening credits with regard to how this film is related to its Umberto Eco source novel. But you might also want to have tomes on history, philosophy, Medieval law, the Inquisition, Benedictine and Franciscan Orders, and any number of other subjects at the ready just in case certain aspects of the film's literally labyrinthine story don't instantly make sense to you. Long before Dan Brown captivated worldwide audiences with his similarly research-stuffed The Da Vinci Code, Umberto Eco had done similar service with his The Name of the Rose, a book so convoluted and incessantly referential to all sorts of arcane subjects that a whole cottage industry of "explanatory" books sprang up in its wake, much like in the case of the Brown opus. Some sort of karma led me to both of these books long before they became worldwide sensations. I was drawn to The Da Vinci Code simply because I liked the dustjacket, and then when I read the blurb and saw there was a mystery solving contest involved (remember that from the first edition?), I was hooked and I devoured the book within just a couple of days, about a month or so before it became the international flavor du jour. I frankly can't recall now what led me to The Name of the Rose a couple of decades earlier, other than that someone who knew of my fascination with religious history may have recommended it to me. As complex as Rose is, especially when compared to the fairly straightforward prose style of Brown, I was almost hypnotically compelled to charge through the novel, and found it one of the most challenging, thought provoking pieces I had ever read up to that point, something that thankfully didn't depend on my complete understanding of all the issues Eco was raising. And that may in fact be the saving grace not only of Eco's novel, but of this Jean-Jacques Annaud film as well. For on one level, you can enjoy The Name of the Rose as an ancient Sherlock Holmes murder mystery (it's no mere coincidence that Eco's monk hero is William of Baskerville). On another, completely other and much deeper level, there's a whole convoluted philosophical subtext playing into both the novel, and to a somewhat lesser extent the film, that makes The Name of the Rose catnip for armchair intellectuals. Umberto Eco's writing can be as formidable as the subjects he attempts to tackle, and that very aspect may be what kept The Name of the Rose from finding its audience, at least with regard to the United States, when the film was initially released. But on its most basic level, The Name of the Rose is nothing other than a simple detective story, a sort of "very special" Cadfael episode wherein Sean Connery's Franciscan monk William of Baskerville investigates a series of gruesome deaths at a Benedictine monastery, a monastery which is in the grips of fear it is communally possessed by Satan and which in fact has a few secrets up its cowl. William's novice Adso (Christian Slater in one of his first major roles) tags along and is really the center of the film's point of view, as becomes quite clear in the film's closing moments (in a nice little twist that first time viewers may or may not see coming, and which I won't spoil here). All of the scholarly detritus surrounding The Name of the Rose's central mystery can in fact be jettisoned quite easily without much detriment to the film's momentum, but the fact is, the more you know about philosophy, history, religious orders and even the Inquisition, the more you'll probably be able to appreciate the many strata that underlie The Name of the Rose's basic whodunit setup. Annaud is able to create a very visceral feeling for time and place throughout the film, and rarely has the grit and grime of the Middle Ages been so convincingly brought to film. The production design of The Name of the Rose is one of this film's crowning achievements, and without giving away too much about one of the story's major elements, the "hidden" realms of the monastery are gorgeously brought to life. This is an often dark and dingy world, and Annaud's European aesthetic is perfectly matched to the content of the film (Annaud evidently argued to Eco himself that Eco had written his novel for only one filmmaker to adapt, that individual being of course Annaud). The Name of the Rose also features a wealth of excellent performances across the board. While Connery seems to be riffing a bit on his "other" Middle Ages role, that of an aging Robin Hood in Richard Lester's Robin and Marian, he brings his usual gravitas to the role and is immensely enjoyable in this relatively unusual setting. Slater is also uncommonly good, free of the tics that hobbled some of his later performances, here evincing a naïve and somewhat troubled young man as he attempts to come to terms with a monk's life. But it's the supporting cast in The Name of the Rose which really shines and gives the film its very provocative edge. The always reliable Ron Perlman is aces as yet another bizarre mutant, in this case the gibbering hunchback Salvatore whose incoherent ramblings provide William with an important clue or two. An international array of fantastic character actors, including William Hickey, Helmut Qualtinger, and an unforgettable Feodor Chaliapin, Jr. populate the monastery with a variety of competing motives and backstories. And then-recent Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham is despicably officious as Grand Inquisitor Bernardo Gui, all too eager to ascribe demonic reasons for the series of hideous deaths William is attempting to investigate with a more rational approach. The actual solution to the central mystery of what's going on literally behind the scenes in the monastery may strike a lot of modern day viewers as a major "WTF" moment, but that is part of Eco's genius, and one which the film at least attempts to deal with in a realistic manner. But Eco's motives in the story are multilayered, to say the least. The mystery of the deaths may be the hook that captures the reader's and/or viewer's interest, but there's a more central issue at stake, one which involves Adso's quantum leap into maturity. There's a reason this project is called The Name of the Rose, and that's a daunting mystery that armchair sleuths would do well to ponder over as they watch the film. The Name of the Rose was a one of a kind novel, one which defied easy categorization and which required a great deal of attention be paid in order to ferret out its many references and mysteries. That argues against a successful film adaptation, but while this film inarguably loses some of the depth and grandeur of Eco's source novel, it's remarkably faithful to the spirit of the book and it manages to create a very viscerally creepy, almost Fellini-esque, ambience. Part mystery thriller, part philosophical rumination, and part history lesson, The Name of the Rose as a film may not be quite as singular as Eco's novel, but it is still a fascinating and compelling film. Newcomers to this title might be a bit distressed by the softness and graininess of the film, but that's how it's always looked, and the Blu-ray is a marked improvement over the DVD. Highly recommended. Note: On its most basic level, The Name of the Rose is nothing other than a simple detective story wherein Sean Connery's Franciscan monk William of Baskerville investigates a series of gruesome deaths at a Benedictine monastery, a monastery which is in the grips of fear it is communally possessed by Satan and which in fact has a few secrets up its cowl. William's novice Adso (Christian Slater in one of his first major roles) tags along and is really the center of the film's point of view, as becomes quite clear in the film's closing moments (in a nice little twist that first time viewers may or may not see coming, and which I won't spoil here). All of the scholarly detritus surrounding The Name of the Rose's central mystery can in fact be jettisoned quite easily without much detriment to the film's momentum, but the fact is, the more you know about philosophy, history, religious orders and even the Inquisition, the more you'll probably be able to appreciate the many strata that underlie The Name of the Rose's basic whodunit setup. [CSW] -4-This movie defied easy categorization and required a great deal of attention be paid in order to ferret out its many references and mysteries. The faces and makeup of the actors chosen to play many of the monks gives them character simply by seeing them. The only reason that I don't add this to my collection is that knowing how the mystery is resolved and how the very satisfying ending is concluded, another viewing might not be anywhere near as intriguing and suspenseful as the first viewing was. However, I won't completely dismiss the idea of adding it to my library later. [V3.5-A4.0] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box. Cast Notes: Sean Connery (William of Baskerville), Christian Slater (Adso of Melk), Helmut Qualtinger (Remigio da Varagine), Elya Baskin (Severinus), Michael Lonsdale (The Abbot), Volker Prechtel (Malachia), Feodor Chaliapin Jr. (Jorge de Burgos), William Hickey (Ubertino da Casale), Michael Habeck (Berengar), Urs Althaus (Venantius), Valentina Vargas (The Girl), Ron Perlman (Salvatore), Leopoldo Trieste (Michele da Cesena), Franco Valobra (Jerome of Kaffa), Vernon Dobtcheff (Hugh of Newcastle). IMDb Rating (09/17/12): 7.8/10 from 48,782 users
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