Reply #12: Also, read John Perkins' "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" too... [View All]

Also now available in paperback too. It will really help you understand the forces behind the scenes and put them in perspective. I think I read someplace that this film was inspired some by this book. Not sure on that though.

I actually watched it twice in the theater. The first time I went late at night when I was tired and fell asleep in the middle. Big Mistake! When I woke up towards the end, I was totally lost at trying to figure out what was going on. The second time helped a lot in figuring out what was going on. If there was a criticism of this movie, it was that it had a lot of plot complexity that is hard to follow at times, and perhaps in some areas character and plot development suffered a little. That's probably what kept it from being more considered as a best picture Oscar.

It still is an awesome movie, and it is one I hope there's a "Director's Cut" out later.

In much the same fashion, I'm also hoping to find some time to watch the four disc Kingdom of Heaven Director's cut release soon. That movie also suffered from a lot of editing, etc. in favor of battle scenes over plot development, and I'm hopeful that the director's cut helps this deficiency of what was otherwise a very good film!