June 17, 2012

LIFE questions A tool for Connecting the Word to Life.

Looking at The Count of Monte Cristo… (A few suggested questions for personal reflection or life group discussion.)

Abbe Faria: Here is your final lesson-do not commit the crime for which you now serve the sentence. God said, “Vengeance is mine.”

Edmond Dantes: I don’t believe in God.

Abbe Faria: It doesn’t matter. He believes in you.

Study Questions: 1. Why do you think Faria urged Edmond not to use the things he learned for

revenge, but only for good? 2. Whose theory of revenge does the film ultimately endorse - Faria's or Edmond's? 3. Did God give Edmond justice, or did Edmond win his own justice? 4. The film frequently refers to God. Which character (or characters) can be seen to

represent God in the film? What parallels are there between God and those characters?

5. What difference would it have made if Edmond had simply forgiven his betrayers? How would it have affected them? And him?

6. Edmond says that the measure of a man is how he copes with the storms of life. Is this true? Which Bible passages would you suggest to support your view? How does this quote relate to the main themes of the film?

7. Compare Edmond at the film's beginning and its end: What has he lost? What has he gained?

8. The day that Faria is found dead, his guard commented that it was the first day in 12 years that he hadn't said thank you for his food. What everyday things about your life would people notice?

9. When Edmond is first tortured in the Chateau d'If, and tells the Warden that God is always watching, the Warden jokes that as soon as God turns up in the room, he will stop. How would you answer someone who asks why God allows great suffering, even when it is directly caused by men?

10. Jacopo's response to having his life saved was to promise unending loyalty to Edmond ('I am your man, forever'). How might you use this to help explain to someone who isn't a Christian what following Jesus means?

This article was first published on Damaris' Culturewatch website (www.culturewatch.org) - used with permission. © Damaris Trust, 1997-2004.

Interesting Trivia: The Count of Monte Cristo is a 2002 adventure film directed by Kevin Reynolds. The film is the tenth adaptation of the book of the same name by Alexandre Dumas, père and stars Richard Harris, James Caviezel, Dagmara Dominczyk, Guy Pearce, and Luis Guzman. It follows the general plot of the novel (the main storyline of imprisonment and revenge is preserved); but many aspects, including the relationships between major characters and the ending, have been changed, simplified, or removed; and action scenes have been added. The character of Sultan Ali Pasha's daughter Haydée, with whom Edmond forms a bond in the novel, and who ultimately falls in love with Edmond, is missing from this version. The movie met with modest box office success.

Questions for every movie:

• What story was the director trying to tell? Can I summarize his story in one sentence?

• What major themes did the story attempt to deal with?

• Of these themes - how were they handled? How do you think Jesus would have handled these themes? What's the difference?

• What did the director 'get right?' What did he get wrong? Did he get it wrong on purpose to prove a point? What point was that?

• What applications can we make to our own lives from this film?