The House of the Spirits (1994)

This was a silly movie - the mother had to be at least 10 years younger than the father, and yet they had her age so much quicker and die first ??The main character was a horrible man - and yet the mother says to the daughter, about the father, 'it isn't malice'... What !? He is nothing but malicious. The character was never shown to do one good thing.There is no romanticism here... masochism maybe... He was a horrible man and I could see no reason why Clara would have loved him.There was no point to this movie, unless it is to encourage women to punish themselves by loving evil men.Watching this was a big waste of my time.

According the BBC's documentary "The Other 9/11" (a film looking back at the coup in Chile in 1973), half the nation, half the people, supported Pinochet, or rather were opposed to Allende's massive nationalization of private property, and against the government providing a larger group of social services at the expense of private industry.With that in mind, it means that the other half supported Allende. The nation was split down the middle.So what does that have to do with this film? This film shows a Chilean Hacienda owner brutalizing women, and forcing himself on others to get what he wants. And then, towards the end of the film, he has a change of heart.Huh.The problem here is that the conservative right wing, of which Jeremy Irons' character is a part, are shown as sexually repressed or twisted individuals. Whereas the free and family loving faction (predominantly women) are shown as normal and, on that note, having a kind of divinity which helps them overcome the repressions of a fathers right-leaning home dictatorship. Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas, Glenn Close and other contemporary actors form an all star cast for what really is an exceptionally well put together film.The problem comes down to the fact that it is factually flawed to push an agenda, as are a lot of films of this ilk. Like I said in my opening, half the people actually did support Pinochet and his coup. That's not to excuse the abuses of the Chilean military, but it should give people pause to wonder why there was such a split in Chilean society. This is never addressed.What is shown is Jeremy Irons' character being what the director believes is an archetypal successful businessman. Well, I suppose if that were true, then the founder of American Airlines, ABC, Microsoft, Intel, Del Monte Foods, Goodyear Tires, Lurssen Yachts (and a host of private firms world wide) were all sexually repressed rapists who impregnated women so they could give birth to pedophilia rapists. Further, that said businessmen frequented prostitutes to satiate sexual desires.For anyone who owns a business, has gone into business for themselves, or who has worked into a management position, ask yourself, how true is that of you? How about your competition? Was Steve Jobs or Bill Gates molded from such DNA?Answer; no.To the director; if you're going to make a film about a familie's personal history regarding the Chilean coup of 1973 (which I remember), then make that film. Don't push some political agenda to share your skewed version of how you think things should be. Make the film of how things were.A finely crafted film. It looks good, it moves well in the story department, it does get pretty hokey with the spirituality (borderline laughable), but otherwise it's an okay piece of cinema.But, as a pro-business American who is hawkish on international politics, I think this movie's theme is poor at best. Tragically flawed and an outright lie and shame upon the director at worst.

The House Of The Spirits would be be for the 18 crowd. I found this movie to be a tedious and rather pointless movie. To me, I saw little purpose in this movie. There are many actors and actresses which I love to see are in this movie. Stars such as Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Winona Ryder, Vanessa Redgrave and Antonio Banderas are in this flick. The House Of Spirits is a long movie. I believe that 20 minutes could have been edited out. Yes, The House of the Spirits movie does give one insight as to how people in Chile live. I was disappointed to have so many of my favorite stars in a pointless film. This is definitely a movie to have on TV and play cards to or have another activity going on. If you don't have anything else to do but relax, watch it. I give The House Of the Spirits three thumbs up.

I had the pleasure of catching this movie on Netflix after almost 13+ years. I was only 14 the last time my cousin, sister and I had sat together one warm summer afternoon and watched this on HBO. After that I didn't remember the name of the movie, just knew enough to know that Meryl Streep was in it. The movie made a mark on my childhood, I was deeply engrossed by the mystical capabilities on Streep. Her poignance and courage in the movie paved the way for much of the artsy feeling I enjoyed. Years later I still love the movie, frankly because it brought back memories of my childhood and I got a chance to relive it all.