THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE

US, 1997, 140 minutes, Colour..
Al Pacino, Keanu Reeves, Charlize Theron, Judith Ivey, Connie Nielson, Craig T. Nelson.
Directed by Taylor Hackford.

Talented lawyer, Kevin Lomax, is offered an opportunity to join a prestigious law firm in New York. His wife is uncertain about the move and his mother is against it. Nevertheless, they move and discover an affluent life-style and a clientele of the rich and famous. The company is presided over by John Milton, intense, ambitious and persuasive.

Kevin's wife begins to hallucinate and Kevin becomes unstable in his work, his relationship with his wife and in his attraction to another lawyer. He also wins acquittal from murder charges for a wealthy, but guilty, businessman.

His wife claims assault by Milton. She takes refuge in a church but is committed to an institution where she kills herself. When Kevin confronts Milton he discovers that he is the devil incarnate who offers him the world and the opportunity to create an Antichrist. Kevin kills himself.

He is then back in the washroom where he had gone in the initial case to think through his position in defending a teacher accused of assault. He decides to refuse to defend the teacher. But a reporter asks him for an interview which will make him a celebrity...

The film is very stylishly made, photography, visual effects and sound. And, in a film dealing explicitly with sin, there are some sequences which may be momentarily disturbing. However, it is a film well worth discussing, especially since the screenplay raises themes of God, the devil, salvation and damnation and free will.

Basically, the film appears as a courtroom drama with Keanu Reeves a hot-shot Florida attorney who has not lost a case, even though some of the clients he defends disgust him. His mother is a God-fearing Bible-quoting woman. His wife is devoted and shares his ambitions.

When he is headhunted for a top New York firm, he willingly starts a journey to the top but also a journey that takes him into his deeper self and the struggle for his conscience and his soul.

The head of the firm, played with panache by Al Pacino, is ominously named John Milton. He is a controller, a tester, a tempter with genial and reasonable sounding advice. But, one's suspicions that this multinational corporate legal firm is not all it seems are soon confirmed and the young lawyer discovers more about himself than he wanted to, that he is too vain, ambitious, neglectful of his wife, prepared to double-deal.

Which brings him face to face with the Devil and a debate about his own responsibility in his moral downfall. The devil scoffs at God but is prepared to adhere to a theology of free will, where human beings can't blame others for the self-centred choices they make. There is more than a touch of the apocalyptic in the literally fiery scenes and discussion of the evil of the 20th century - the devil at his peak - and the coming millennium. It is a variation on It's a Wonderful Life, where the hero sees what might have been, though the style fifty years on is grimmer.

1.The impact of the film? Interest? Entertainment? Religious themes? Temptation? Sin?

2.The title, the literal meaning? The advocate from the Devil’s point of view? The advocate, this time for the Devil? The background of belief in the Devil, evil incarnate, angels? 90s and the interest in the supernatural? The approach of the millennium?

3.The apocalyptic tone of the film? The imagination about the incarnation of the Devil, the Devil taking over the world, power in the economy? Ideas? The visuals of the frieze coming alive?

4.Religious perspectives on the Devil, on evil, the demonic? How credible? The possibility of the incarnation of the Devil?

5.Themes of sin, redemption, free will – and the perspective of John Milton? His comments on personal choice and responsibility?

6.The visuals for the fire, the demons, the frieze? Coming alive?

7.The structure of the film: the experience of the law court, Kevin and his work, Mary Ann, family? The interruption with the tempting in the washroom? The progression of the narrative? The build-up to the climax? Back in the washroom, discovering that it was a nightmare? The variation on It’s a Wonderful Life and the possibility of an alternate world, 90s style? The ending, the possibilities of this happening over again? The initial case, the accused, the attack on the little girl, the people in the court, the issues of child abuse? The prosecutor and the attack? Kevin's defence case of the rapist: the leering defendant, the distraught child, her parents, his wife. Going into the washroom to examine his conscience. Temptation to the easy and comfortable life and his accepting, the move to New York and the world at his feet.

8.The role of the judge? The client and his rubbing his hands? Kevin’s reaction? Going into the toilet, looking in the mirror, the journalist and the wink? His dream, the return to the washroom, his resignation, the possibility of his being barred? Mary Ann and the next day – and the journalist and a further temptation? Succumbing or not?

9.Kevin, his skills as a lawyer, winning the case, reaction? Mary Ann and her devotion to him? His decision to go to New York, Mary Ann’s reaction? Kevin’s mother, her background, reaction? (And the later revelation of her liaison with Milton and the demonic nature of her son? At the church, the singing? The antagonism of Mary Ann? The Scripture quotations? Going to New York?

10.The recruiter, Kevin’s response? New York, the social round, the party, the drinks, the jokes, cheques? The mobile phone? Hopes? Leammon and his wife?

11.The arrival in New York, success, meeting Milton? The other men at the office? Milton’s offer? On the roof? Balance? The image of the temptations from the Gospels? The test, Milton and his bargain, Kevin agreeing?

12.Al Pacino as John Milton? The symbolic nature of his name – and Paradise Lost? The company, the jobs, the global reach, the corporate clients? The offices and staff? Leamon, Eddie Barzoon? His wife? Christabella and her presence? The board meetings? The apartment, luxury, clothes? Painting?

13.The Cullen case? The background of voodoo? The talk, the study, the case itself? Winning? On religious grounds? Cullen, the discussions, Milton and his connection with Cullen? The celebration? The effect on Mary Ann?

14.Mary Ann, the neighbour, the decadence, shopping, the touch, clothes, party, Mary Ann’s fright? Her reaction to Kevin and Milton? Changing her hair, her anger, her decline, illness? Alienation? The sexuality? Going into the church, the abuse? Her condemnation of Milton? Going to hospital, killing herself? The audience relief at the end and the possibility that this would not happen to her?

15.Kevin, his being busy, the change going to his head? Neglecting Mary Ann? The church, the confrontation with Milton? The effect of her death? Milton, in his office, the confrontation with Kevin, the background of the large frieze, the tableau coming alive? John Milton as the Devil, his intense and overblown speeches, on the roof of the building, his board and their evil actions, Kevin caught up in the evil and his defence of the wealthy murderer. The final confrontation with Milton, with Christabella, the sculpture coming alive - and Kevin's decision to opt out.

16.Kevin and his having to face his own reality? His decisions? The relationship with Milton?

17.Kevin's mother and her seduction and her fears for her son, Mary Ann and her suffering, the assault by Milton, her going to the church and the crucifix, her illness and death.

18.Kevin and the opportunity to start again, taking a moral stance, but the reporter offering him temptation again.

19.The return to the washroom? The effect of the imaginary experience and temptation?

20.The journalist, the further temptation to success – the journalist turning into Milton? Kevin’s reaction?

21.The Devil Incarnate, evil, the possibility of overcoming evil or not?