Ok, I just saw this movie last night. I thought it was good. What I have figured out so far is that the nine drawings represent the stages that Johnny Depp must go through to get to the "end". Here are my questions. 1) What is the ninth gate? Is he entering Hell? Has he become the Devil? Is he going to meet the Devil? What exactly has happened at the end. It seems to me that he is represented in the last drawing as a seven headed dragon? Any idea what that means? 2) I don't understand why the woman (the demon)chose Johnny Depp over the other guy (Balcon) as the person to get into hell. She clearly liked the fact that Depp killed, but it was after that kill that she still kept Depp from interputing Balkan's killing of another woman. So clearly she still liked them both until the end. Yet, she then lets Balkan die by not revealing to him that the ninth drawing is a forgery. Go Figure. This confused me. Why did she choose Depp. Balkan was clearly more evil and deserved to get into hell or whatever. 3) If the woman is a demon working for the devil, and who is guiding Johnny Depp to the Devil, then why is she doing this? What does the devil want with him. He's basically decent, even though he is drawn by power. I'm not seeing why... 4) My interpretation of the nine gates is that they are the nine gates in Dante's Inferno. Each one leading to a deeper level of hell. I'm not seeing that with these nine gates. They don't seem to make sense. The road to hell should be a little more difficult if you ask me. 5) Why does the woman leave him at the end? And then let him figure it out? Why not just send him through the gate right then and there? ------------------ humble, but hungry.
It's been a while since I saw it, but I remember having similar questions. I disagree that Depp's character is "basically decent". Remeber how he made his living? He duped people out of their valuable possessions. No, his character is definitely flawed. My question coming out of the film was, "what are we supposed to take away from this?" You don't find a film too often that seems to present Hell as a desirable place to visit. I was confused as to why Depp's character seemed so intent on going. I'm not the most religious person on the planet, but I found the seeming intent of the film kind of creepy. ------------------ Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me...you.
Good Point R&R, I think that does make Depp a little more worthy than the other guy. I can't figure out why he went back. Especially after watching the last guy go up in flames because of ambition. ------------------ humble, but hungry.
Hey, I just saw that movie too. My take on the situation was that that woman was the devil himself (herself). Tempting / luring Depp along the way, guiding him to his final destiny. Of course, he was a pretty sleazy guy, and might've found his way there eventually anyway. The road to hell should be a little more difficult if you ask me. Don't you know that the road to hell is paved with gold? ------------------
I just watched this movie and my interpretation is that Johnny's character went through the sh*t . .and balkan didn't Therefore was a bit more. . .er worthy. I still don't see what johnny took the bait and went back to the gate. I know he into power but he knew he was in over his depth and tried to get out several times. it was a confusing movie. Wasn't eerie enough and was kind of predictable. Rocket River ------------------
