Visual text review-

Before the devil knows your dead

This movie runs for 123 minutes, fortuantaly my friends and I were able to leave at about 105 minutes gone so unless the last 18 minutes were fantastically eventful, filled with action and drama then I give this film 1 out of 5 stars. It is also fair to say that I will not be doing any further study on this text with regards to scholarship.

The film has been described as a 'suspense thriller' though not one of us were thrilled in the slightest that we had paid $12.80 to see it. Enough whingeing though, from the unexpectedly sexually graphic opening shot it is clear that this film has the ingredients to be a classic, sex, drugs and a robbery. something along the way went wrong, the plot is rather simple; two brothers desperate for some extra cash decide to rob a jewlery store, infact their parents store banking on the insurance to set them straight again. everybody wins right? wrong, they rope in an extra who produces a gun and kills their own mother in a 'worse case scenario' scene. this destroys the sons and spins the family into upheaval. the film plods along at a slow place as their own father disraught by the loss of his wife will not give up on finding her killers. ofcourse the audience can see where this is heading and prepares for a family rumble type scene.

Not wanting to give to much away incase some of you do still want to view this film I'll leave it there.

Dont get me wrong I dont write about every movie I view, but as I sat through this bored I made connections between this film and king lear, ultimatly they contain the same theme; a family battleing its biggest enemy: itself. the unatural acts in king lear e.g. daughters turning on their father, a brother betraying a brother. these acts were mirrored in 'Before the devil knows your dead' firstly the two brothers rob their own parents jewlery store playing a part in their mothers death, this is a very unnatural act. also one brothers wife; Gina, is also sleeping with his brother in an on going affair and finally Andy qeustions wether he is infact adopted by asking his father. this destoys his father even more so in his downward spiral into madness and obsession on finding his wifes killers. Andy shows no graditude towards his father and little remorse at his mothers wake, combined these examples show a how much a child can hurt their parents.

Unnatural acts made me think about the old nature vs nurture argument; is it how we raise our kids that makes them do the things the do or is it their own nature?