The fountain
Year of release : 2006
Run time : 1h37min
Genre : Romance / Drama / Fantasy
Cast : Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz
The movie opens with a quote from the Bible, about God banishing Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.
We then see the leading man in what we find out later is Xibalba, the afterlife, according to the movie,in reality it translates to " the place of fright", the place where the most feared Mayan deities abode, the Lord of Death and his evil attendants,so..hell .
He seems to be thinking the dying tree he cares for is alive, as his memories return to haunt him.
The movie is fragmented in 3 chapters, the past or Spain during the Inquisition, the present in which our lead is desperately trying to find a cure for brain tumors as his wife is dying, and the future,or the afterlife.
The past and future are also part of the book Izzy,the female lead and the love interest, is writing, a book which gives the title of the movie.
Izzy wrote the past, about the Spanish Inquisition, and a queen asking her conquistador to find the Tree of Life,hidden in the Mayan lands,as means to escape the inquisitors; and she asks her husband to finish it, meaning to write about Xibalba, the place where the souls go after death.
The movie is a sad,tragic tale, about a man who loved his wife so much, he looked endlessly for a cure to her disease, to the point, feeling he was out of time to save her, he lost the little precious time he had left with her,away from her.
One of these times, as they were trying to heal a monkey with a brain tumor, he takes off his wedding ring, and he never finds it again. This haunts him, to such a degree, he tattoos himself one with the ink in his pen,to the point ,even in Xibalba, he is tattooing endless wedding rings on his arm.
The movie has one of the most beautiful and haunting soundtracks ever,by Clint Mansell.
The actors were great. So were the visual effects. I also loved how Darren Aronofsky directed it.
The movie is streaming on HBO Max, and is for rent or sale on Amazon, Apple, Google, Redbox, Vudu, YouTube.
Rating : It's so money !