for RIZAL

UNIVERSITY OF SAINT LA SALLE
Bacolod City

Jim Austin M. Tolentino September 22, 2008
AB – 1B

On the Movie “The Count of Monte Cristo”

Characters and their traits

Edmond Dantes - the protagonist who brings a letter from Emperor Bonaparte to an "old friend" in France. A second mate on the ship french trading ship Pharaon.

Fernand Mondego - Edmond's bestfriend, who is also an officer of the same ship Edmond is in.

Napoleon - the emperor of the French Empire. He saves Edmond and Fernand when the British mistake them for french soldiers when they stop by Napoleon's exile island of Elba to seek medical assistance for their captain who falls sick aboard.

Mercedes Iguanada - Edmond's fiancee who becomes Fernand's wife after Edmond's conviction.

Morrell - the boss of their shippig line who is inspired by Edmond's bravery and promotes him to captain after the captain dies.

Danglars - the Pharaon's first mate who hates Edmond for being promoted to captain instead of him. He leaked false information to Mercedes thatEdmond has been executed so she marries Fernand.

Villefort - the deputy public prosecutor and chief magistrate whose father is Bonaparte's "old friend" in France.

Armand Dorleac - the sadistic warden of Chateau d'If whom Edmond kills upon escaping.

Abbe Faria - a priest and a former soldier of the emperor, who is imprisoned for denying to the emperor the knowledge on the location of a treasure. He teaches Edmond language and fighting skills, economics, philiosophy and others.

Jacopo - a member of the group of smugglers Edmond meets after escaping Chateau d'If. He is regarded as a traitor by the group and is intended to be buried alive. Edmond fights him, and upon sparing his life, vows to be "Edmond's man for life."

Luigi Vampa - the smuggler and thief who leads Jacopo's group, whom he hires to kidnap Albert, Fernand's son so Edmond could pretend to have saved him.

Albert Mondego - Mercedes' son by Edmond whom she labels to be Fernand's and he claims to be his own until he finds out.

Theme

The movie primarily talks about injustice and the sufferings endured by the main character, Dantes. He had been unjustly convicted and thrown behind bars with the prosecutor’s and Fernand’s personal charges against him behind him, and he faced the charges he can only see due to his limited education which made him blind to the realities and implications of the actions he took.

We see a variety of concepts encircling the entire storyline that would give us insights that may either aggravate, justify, mitigate, or exempt the actions of the characters that will lead us to conclusions as to whether justice is served or sanctions are made to those who are due them. For example, did Edmond’s incapacity in words serve as an excuse for him to not know that the letter he carries brings about a disaster, something that will be snagged by a falling out between a father and a son for the son’s personal interests? Or are we to condemn Villefort’s unlawful conviction of Dantes because he wanted to look good for the current regime by breaking all his father’s ties with Napoleon?

We see in the end that Fernand had been killed, the family reunited under the real paternity, and everything goes back to normal. Can we say that justice had been delivered to the proper doorstep? I believe so. Edmond had taken back what had been robbed of him and he had been able to put the pieces of his life back together, putting everything behind him, as characterized by his purchase of Chateau d’If where he suffered pain and suffering in the superlatives.

We can now figure out at least three concepts: injustice, revenge, forgiveness – which all led to the administration of justice to those who deserve it. Good for Edmond, he had been given the right tools to do the job properly, as seen in his last words in the film thanking Abbe Faria and finally, leaving all of his undertakings to God in his planned revenge: “God will give me justice.”

for my PIP

University of Saint La Salle

Bacolod City

Religious Studies 3

TOLENTINO, Jim Austin M.

AB1 - B

Parish Involvement Plan Activities (MidTerm)

NARRATION

August 15, 2008 - Friday

The Adventist Youth Society was in charge for all the Sabbath services the following day, and they wanted to present a concert, so I joined the group singing the song "Midnight Cry," which is a Southern favorite and one of my mum and dad's favorites as well. I sang Tenor, and we are supposed to sing it in Sabbath School. I played the piano for the tenors to learn their melody, and later, while the pianist has gone somewhere, I played for the entire chorale to sing to it. I eventually got to play for the official performance, because the pianist still has many other youth choirs to accompany. I also got to accompany one more chorale, on the song "Give Us A Vision." All the others were accompanied by the older pianist.

We started practicing at 2:30. During our practice, we had to evacuate the Grand Piano because it is not supposed to be used for practice pala. We had to settle with an electric organ, since the Upright Piano is being used by Mrs. Jonah Toledo, the older pianist. She was one of my piano and voice teachers, but even she didn't want to practice with the Grand Piano. It is only for the church services and official song performances. We stopped practice to prepare for the Friday night services at 6:00 PM

August 16, 2008 - Saturday

This time, we went to church early to polish the song, and at about 9:15 we sang, we are on the second part of the concert. I was on the Grand Piano all along, so I didn't get to sing with them. It's OK, we had a potluck for lunch after the Divine Hour of Worship (second service after the Sabbath School).

August 17, 2008 - Sunday

The chorale I sang with last Saturday agreed to do a bayanihan for the church. It was so filthy around the church because of the grand social night last night. Litter were everywhere, mostly of candy wrappings, straws, bottles, because we had games in the grand socials. We cleaned the surroundings of the church (the deaconesses cleaned inside) and had lunch together. We arrived there at 10:30, stopped for lunch, and continued cleaning at 1:30. We all went home shortly afterward at 4 o'clock.

REFLECTIONS

Music and singing were and remain to be the most popular and most beautiful form of worship, especially among our denomination. We had been trained in music (including musical instruments for me) while we were growing up. And it is not just for any other purpose, but all to glorify God with it. The reason why I took classical music for my voice lessons while most specialize in pop to sing in varied occassions is that I only wanted it to be used in church. Learning classical music is twice as expensive as pop music, but it's worth it.

I believe that praising God and bringing Him back the glory He shows us should be the best reason for everything we do. And by doing so, we also get to share Him with other people by crwning Him in our lives, and lead beautiful lives while doing it.

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