When looking at the list of movies posted to watch for this assignment I immediately took interest in the film Don Juan DeMarco. I had heard the legends of the infamous lover and was interested to learn more. So I ventured to my local video store, where I ended up having late fees to pay for returning Monty Python�s, The Life of Brian a week late�strange, and rented the film.
To my surprise the film takes place in the year it was filmed, 1995, and in New York. I didn�t expect this at all seeing as the assignment was on Latin cultures and I believed the story of Don Juan DeMarco to be an old one. But alas, this initial confusion passed and I sank into the feel of the movie. Immediately you meet the main characters, Don Juan DeMarco played by a young Johnny Depp and Dr. Mickler played by a not so young Marlon Brando. I would like to state that I am and have been for some time a great fan of Mr. Brando and to see him in such a recent film made my day, although he will always be my favorite in On the Waterfront and Guys and Dolls.
In this slightly twisted tale of the world�s greatest lover DeMarco is talked down by Dr. Mickler from suicide by claiming to be Don Ovtavio DeFlores and takes the young lover into his care for a ten day psychological evaluation at a New York psychiatric hospital. There we see new characters emerge that will play a pivotal role in the development of the story. There is the head doctor of the hospital who acts as an antagonist to DeMarco, trying to urge Dr. Mickler to put the boy on medication and commit him to the hospital as a psychotic, delusional man. I initially thought DeMarco himself to be the protagonist, trying to prove himself sane and worthy of freedom, but it has now become evident that the true hero is Dr. Mickler. The kindly doctor would not jump to conclusions about his new charge and his decision to help free DeMarco from the hospital results in not only DeMarco�s liberation but his own from the constraints of his daily grind.
During the sessions with DeMarco and Dr. Mickler, where the doctor was to determine his sanity, the young lover tells his story to the excitement deprived psychiatrist. DeMarco tells of his life in Mexico where his parents met and fell instantly in love. Where he knew he was different when all the girls had an undeniable attraction to him. Where his father ran their hacienda and taught the young DeMarco how to sword fight and be a man. Mexico is where DeMarco gained his appreciation for women and where he first fell in love. This film undoubtedly conveys the importance of family and love. DeMarco�s father in the film defends the honor of his mother when she is accused of sleeping with another man, and when his father is killed DeMarco, then only sixteen, picks up his father�s sword and kills his father�s murderer. The conviction and the love of family is strong within this film.
On a scale of one to five I would rate this film a four because the story was beautiful and inspiring (I watched it with my boyfriend and needless to say the film inspires romanticism in its viewers), and it portrayed a good deal family social structure during his stories of his life in Mexico. I also give it a four because of the casting, Marlon Brando was a good choice and you can�t go wrong with Johnny Depp for odd roles such as this.
