The Libertine with Johnny Depp

UPDATED: This post has received so much traffic that I thought I would add the incredible scene below, which is the Earl of Rochester’s speech to the House of Lords.  The scene is so powerful because Johnny Depp is transformed into a hideous, syphilitic monster.  He not only manages the physical demands of the scene, but he also does a masterful job of giving a powerful speech.

Original post: The fact that it is 2008, and this movie was released in 2004, tells you all you need to know about my movie-going habits. But about a year ago (I guess), I saw it on Cinemax (right after Hotel Erotica 7). At first, I wasn’t too impressed. Then I watched it again and I was amazed at just how good of an actor Johnny Depp is, and just how good of a movie this is.

The movie is based on an actual historical figure — the Second Earl Of Rochester, who was a 17th Century poet. While he was totally immoral, a scoundrel, a cheat, a drunkard, a wretch, a … we’ve hit the end of my bad person terminology, but you get the picture . . . you can tell that not only is he smart, but that he’s very well-versed in Scripture and the teachings of Jesus Christ. It is almost in spite of his beliefs that he acts so repugnantly. The historical background of the emergence of England from Puritan rule provides the perfect backdrop for such a figure. He’s brought up on the Bible and Jesus, and then Puritan rule ends and the monarchy returns; thus, allowing him the freedom to be a perfect fool.

Johnny Depp does such a good job of getting lost in the character that you forget you’re watching Johnny Depp. From Depp’s protrayal of the Earl of Rochester, you get the feeling that Rochester knows that we are taught by Jesus to love our neighbors. We’re even to love those that revile us; we’re to love those that hate us; we’re to love our enemies. Rochester knows this and does everything he can to make you hate him all the while knowing that those around him know that Jesus taught them not to hate.

As he’s dying from syphilis, he gives a moving speech before the House of Lords that, according to the movie, beats back an attempt to deny Charles II’s brother from succeeding to the throne because he is Catholic. The speech scene is one of the best scenes from any movie that I’ve watched. Rochester is so crippled that he needs two canes to walk and he has to wear a nose guard to hide all the sores on his face. Yet the speech saves the day. Soon thereafter, he dies and the movie ends with Rochester looking into the camera and recounting his life. The scene is here.

Why do I spend all this time writing about a 4-year old movie about a guy who lived 350 years ago? Because I think the story is still relevant for people of faith. Not only is the most debauched person not necessarily lost to God, but of more import, those very people challenge us to practice what we preach. Do we really mean it when we say we love our neighbors? That we’ll follow Christ’s example? Faced with the character presented by Depp, I don’t think we can so flippantly say yes. Maybe what we really mean is we love those who are most like us, kind of like us, maybe even not like us but at least not “bad.” He would be so easy to hate, to write off like human bad debt. But we can’t. At least not if we say we follow what Christ said. And therein lies the beauty of this movie and its haunting challenge — to love someone who has given you no reason to love them. No reason other than our God commands us to.

The movie is worth the rental fee for the ending song along, which was written by composer Michael Nyman. The song is here

and the words implore us to “pray for him who prays too late so that he may shine on judgment day.” If you were a Depp fan — one of the few pretty boys who can really act — and haven’t seen this movie, watch it. If you’re not a Depp fan, this movie may just convert you — convert you in more ways than one actually.