I went and saw The Celestine Prophecy Movie on opening weekend. It was wonderful.

Movie evaluation
It wasn’t a big budget Hollywood movie, which might have been to its benefit. It managed to conveyed the principles introduced  in the book The Celestine Prophecy without going crazy with special effects.  I got a real sense that they were really being seen by the one who was in the position (in the movie) of viewing them at the time. It added to my understanding of what they were trying to teach the main character. The setting was absolutely beautiful.

Story evaluation
Shortening
It’s been a long time since I read the book but I remember things happening a little differently. If I’m correct, and the story was changed for the movie (I can’t find my book to check for accuracy – I think I lent it to someone years ago) the writers seem to have adhered to the basic plot line while changing events a little in order to deliver a movie of normal length. I honestly don’t recall all that was in the movie but not the book.

Special effects
The special effects were used to show the energy of all living things. How everyone and everything has its own energy and how this energy flows between all of us and all living things. Energy can even help guide us, if we know what we’re looking for.

Character development
I think there could have been more done to give us a better sense of who the characters were, why they were involved, what their abilities were and how they got those abilities. I think this was attempted in the manner in which the characters interacted with each other during certain scenes and through various dialogs but it seemed a little contrived. I don’t know how it would have come across to someone who hadn’t read any of the books or if they were able to follow it.

What I got out of it
I had forgotten a lot of the principles from the book. After all, it was 1994 when I read it, 12 years ago. It makes me want to read it again and study the Insights. What I’m calling "principles" they call "Insights", so I’m switching to "Insights" now. One thing I had forgotten was one way in which relationships can be more harmonious. In the book, the Insights explain how people get their energy from the Source of all Life. What happens in a relationship is we stop getting our energy from Source and start looking to the other in the relationship for our energy. Well, no one wants to lose their own energy so a battle for control of the energy ensues. One way to avoid this battle and make all parties much happier is to send the other person loving energy all the time, no matter what. When this happens the other person can’t steal your energy. How can something freely and lovingly offered be stolen? It really changes the dynamics of the relationship. I started doing it right away, sending love from my heart to whoever I was with. It’s powerful stuff! (Now I just have to remember to do it all the time.)

Conclusions
If you haven’t read the book I do suggest seeing the movie. If you like the movie then you’ll probably want to read the book. You’ll love that book so much you’ll want to read the sequels: The Tenth Insight : Holding the Vision, The Celestine Vision : Living the New Spiritual Awareness and The Secret of Shambhala : In Search of the Eleventh Insight. By making the story shorter the writers were able to be more succinct in their explanation of the Insights contained in the original book while offering a movie that isn’t too lengthy.

Supplemental
If you like the movie you might even be interested in The Making of the Movie. You can also find out what else James and Salle Redfield are up to.

See or download the trailers online for The Celestine Prophecy Movie

View movie details at Amazon: The Celestine Prophecy

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