Devil`s Advocate
I recently saw a movie called, "The Devil's
Advocate." The previews
for this movie seemed unbelievable and sounded very
similar to a previous
lawyer-based movie. To my surprised, I came out of the
movie with many
questions, arguments, and admittedly, a little fear. I really
enjoy a movie that
provokes conversation and arguments about a particular
subject that is
controversial or makes a person think how they would react in
a particular
situation. The movie revolves around a small-town lawyer from
Florida who is
extremely gifted in his ability to win cases, whether his
clients were guilty or
not. For example, at the beginning of the movie he was
defending a person who
was wrongly accused of such a horrible crime. He truly
believed that his client
was innocent because of his position as a
well-respected teacher in the
community. During the trial he noticed that his
client was really enjoying
himself and was aroused by her accusations and
testimony. At this point he had
to make a moral decision that only he could
make. Should he continue to
represent his client, even though he strongly
believed that he was guilty of
this crime? He appeared to have a personal
struggle with this question, but in
the end he decided to defend his client
and actually won the case, ultimately
keeping his perfect record, but also
cheating the abused child who was unfairly
molested by this man. He was then
offered a great job in New York for a large
law firm and became the new hot
shot at the company because of his reputation in
winning cases. This is when
the movie gets extremely interesting, and also a
little scary. He and his
wife were so surprised and overwhelmed by this new lfie
full of nice things
and new friends. This new life was possible because of his
willingness to do
anything to win a case. As it turned out, the head of the law
firm was
actually the Devil who recruited him because of his disregard for
morals in
order to do one thing, and that is to win at all costs. The deception
of the
Devil is not recognized by the main character because he is too busy
trying
to win cases for the new law firm, which are merely tests that the Devil
has
set up for him. His vanity is his ultimate fault. This is always a
great
subject of argument and conversation because of people's different
views and
sense of morality. I don't agree with his decision to defend the
guilty child
molester. I believe it is immoral and especially unfair to the
victim who is
hurt by such ascts. The main character was not motivated so muc
hby the riches
that his success brought him but, as the Devil later points
out, it is his
vanity and fear of losing that destroys him. The most
interesting aspect of the
movie comes when the Devil and the lawyer finally
confront each other. All of
the choices that the lawyer makes, good or bad,
are of his own free will. He had
willingly chosen to defend a guilty man.
Every individual has free will in
choosing to do good or evil. The devil
didn't make him do it. His own selfish
needs and wants drove him to his own
fate. We are constantly confronted with
such choices every single day, every
single second. The movie was gruesome in it
s portrayal of the evils of such
an immoral profession, but the basic principles
of individual morality and
how it ultimately affects our society as a whole was
a major success. I think
that if people would just stop to think of how their
personal decisions and
actions will affect not only themselves but others around
them that our
society would be less likely to include such plain and suffering.