Religious
Motifs in Al Pacino Films
(Author note: currently
working on this.)
To clear things up, when I reference Al Pacino,
I mean to say Al Pacino's character. I don't use the words "Al Pacino's
character" everywhere on this analysis because it would get too
repetitive. The same goes for Robert De Niro and the character that he portrays
in the movie Heat.
This analysis started as I was designing some software called Mind Vision. I somehow ended up analyzing some movies. I discovered a religious motif in a few of Al Pacino's films. I wrote about the discovery.
Mind Vision is unfinished and in progress. It is found at this link: https://github.com/xpqx/software-design-lab/tree/main/ai_mind_vision#mind-vision
Moving on to the religious discovery...
The discovery assumes that there are powerful entities stronger than God. These entities can be called The Creators. The Creators are a small civilization that exists outside of the conventional science that is studied in human academies. They also exist beyond magic, both good and evil. Like any intelligent civilization, the creators were able to think abstractly and profoundly about various issues.
The Creators viewed life on Earth and everything that revolved around it as a complex mathematical formula. In their calculations, they surmised that an all-powerful entity extremely weaker than them, but exceedingly stronger than any living thing had to be created in order for the current iteration of human civilization to flourish. They created the entity; they called it God. No matter the circumstances, this entity would always exist. The Creators bestowed God with a particular task – help human life flourish. God was allowed to decide how to let human life flourish. As such, only God existed on his own without a Devil to 'challenge' him. Since there is no Devil entity yet, that means there is no evil in the world. Thus, God and his iteration of the world is full of good even though bad things can happen in the mathematical equation of the Creators. Those bad things are viewed as good because in God's view, nothing could be bad because the Devil does not exist.
In
regards to designing software, designing software is very different from
engineering software. Designing software means I'm in the "thinking about
something" phase to see if the software could actually materialize.
Anyways, moving on to the topic at hand...
Al
Pacino appears to be playing different versions of the same character in the
first three movies listed below. This is very interesting. Al Pacino starts out
playing an anti-God character, but not necessarily an evil character. Al Pacino
is then playing the Devil. Robert De Niro is playing God.
The
movies are:
- Heat (Al Pacino's character fails a Morality Test,
this was before evil existed in the world.)
- Interview and Commentary on
Heat (1995) - Vincent and Neil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSKhCfKrZRE
- More Interview and Commentary
on Heat (1995) - The Coffee Shop Scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWwbIHi9D90
- The Devil's Advocate (Al Pacino's character has embraced his role as
an anti-God. Evil now exists in the world.)
- The Recruit (Al Pacino has grown immensely comfortable in his
role as the Devil, but he became too evil and lost the fight versus
someone that is good. You could argue that Al Pacino recruited his protégé
because he knew he was an Angel sent down from heaven to try to stop him.
Al Pacino wanted to send this Angel back to heaven because the Earth realm
belongs to the Devil.)
- Minority Report slightly involved to help finish off the
religious analysis (The character that Al Pacino lost a fight to, goes off
to play another role in a different movie, but it is made explicitly clear
that the character is a man of God.)
- Scarface This movie is also needed, but not required for
the analysis.
Title of Analysis: Al
Pacino Kills God (and that's okay)
Analysis
created using Al Pacino movies Heat, Devil's Advocate, and The Recruit.
Posted
for potential good versus evil themes such as God versus Satan. Al Pacino is
not God although he isn't totally bad or evil. There's a religious story
floating around that Satan was an angel that was cast down to Earth by God. I
couldn't find a link to it, so I'll look for it later.
God character in movie Heat: Robert De Niro
God's angel assistants: his crew of career criminals each with
their own valuable skills
Angel cast from heaven: Al Pacino
Rogue angel's assistants: his crew of LAPD detectives also each
with their own valuable skills
Mission: Pass the Morality Test, of which you know
not when it will happen, only then will you gain readmission into heaven to be
alongside God.
Rules: Heavenly angelic powers are only available after you pass
or fail the test, not in between and not before. In between passing and
failing, you must rely on human thinking abilities, mainly logic and other
thinking abilities.
Plot: Robert De Niro as God, gives you an inside look at what
God actually does when he assumes a human form and visits planet Earth. That
is, God does evil deeds. God has been doing these evil deeds because no one
would ever find out he does his evil deeds in secret missions to entertain
himself.
Al
Pacino, playing a rebellious and non-conforming Angel, sneaks up on God during
his secret missions and catches him in the act of doing various evil deeds on
planet Earth.
Al
Pacino, the Angel, assumes the role of a hard-working detective to try to stop
God, that is, Robert De Niro, from doing his secret evil deeds on planet Earth.
For
this mission, Robert De Niro has assumed the role of a crafty career criminal
that knows how to successfully plan extensive and elaborate heists without
using his God-like powers.
God
has a security mechanism in place to go off in the event he is caught doing
evil deeds in secret. That security event is a special test that will be
administered to the angel or angels that catch him doing his secret evil deeds.
Al Pacino will take this test. Al Pacino will fail this test.
What is the Morality Test in Heat using a religious lens of analysis? The test is in the form of a question. That question is: What do you do when you catch God doing evil deeds he tells you not to do?
Relevant scene in the movie Heat: Al Pacino in movie Heat, scene "We Just Got Made" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqIMlfHcpR0
The link immediately above highlights the
contrasting positions that Robert De Niro and Al Pacino have throughout the
film. Robert De Niro, the God character, lures Al Pacino, the Devil character,
into a trap so that his identity and the identity of his angels, can be
revealed.
This scene is happening more in the mind of the
viewer and less on film. On film, and on the ground, it looks like a detective
and his crew just went out to analyze what a few career criminals were talking
about.
What happens in the mind of the viewer is that
God has made the Devil reveal himself to the world. God tells you, "Look
over there, that is where evil resides. Don't look in my direction." Only
a God would have this power. Further, at this precise moment in the film, two
powerful spiritual entities share a connection using silent communication.
Their communication method is so good, that they both understand each other in
their own way.
The positioning of both Robert De Niro and Al
Pacino establishes the power relationship between the two actors. Robert De
Niro, viewing Al Pacino from the top and in secret, clearly shows that he has
the dominant position here and for the rest of the film as well.
Al Pacino, in contrast, is caught off-guard on
the ground, in a low position, and out in the open with nothing to hide or use
as cover. Essentially, Al Pacino was unsuspectingly placed in a precarious
position and got caught. However, this is not to discount Al Pacino’s abilities
as an actor in portraying a character or the spiritual entity that his
character represents. It is only to highlight the vulnerable position being
played by Al Pacino even though he is an accomplished individual working as an
LAPD detective. This is good acting on Al Pacino's part and a good choice of
casting made by Michael Mann.
Thus, Al Pacino can be understood to be playing the role of a wingless Angel in Heat.
To be continued.
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