The whole show was really steeped in the occult and Roman Catholic imageries so much so that non-believers like Herman and a colleague of mine could not understand the subtle nuances of the show except marvelling at the obviously well-done Hollywood special effects and all the whizbangs.
For those who are not in the know, Reeves plays as John Constantine, an exorcist who works with his own code of ethics and is straddling between the forces of Hell and Heaven of which he is trying to buy his way into the latter through his works of deporting wayward demons back into Hell. However, like any Christian would tell you, salvation is really not to be bought through works since the basic canon of Christianity makes it known that all Man are born sinners - more so for John Constantine who tried to kill himself when he was young (suicide being seen as a murder of self and a direct violation of one of the Ten Commandments of "Thou Shalt Not Kill", hence a heinous sin).
The act of suicide, according to the movie (as I am not entirely well read in the original comic), was the result of John's parents who have made him go under the tremendous stress of psychotherapy after having discovered that he had the gift or curse of "seeing things that are not meant to be seen".
Bound thus for Hell for his transgression, John tries to wriggle his way out to salvation which culminated in him discovering one of Hell's best kept plots and even going on to cheat the Devil himself of which I shall not spoil for you, the reader. Overall, people should go watch the show, it's really good and is one of the darn rare shows that I really wished that the male lead does not bow to Hollywood conventions and kiss the female lead and boy, did Constantine not disappoint me in this respect and I really give the thumbs up to the director for resisting the temptation (no pun intended). Talk about dark anti-heroes. John Constantine takes that cake.
Anyhow, the themes of Constantine actually does coincide with a comic idea that I had toyed in my mind for the longest time since my poly days. It revolves around the biblical character of Cain (of the "murder of Abel" fame) who was marked by God for his act and which I believed made him live till this day. To cut the story short, my research took me on a reading spree on demonology, occultic practices, angel studies and the other New Age stuff that will boggle alot of minds and appall my church elders for sure. And because of all these readings, I understood the movie's details better like why did flies killed this guy in the show and why the bottle of wine in the background was called "Joshua's Tree". If you want to know why, leave a comment and maybe we can hold conversation.
The show also deals with the basic human function that we take for granted - choice. Alot of times in life, we will have the chance to choose and sometimes our choice results in stuff that we will have to bear or contend with for a very long time, even a lifetime. John is no exception and he makes a rare decision that will change his life which I find trite (ok, granted it's a 2 hour show and they have to end it somehow) but otherwise, the show was really a good primer for anyone who is interested in such themes to find out more. But of course be careful, this world we live in is really not the only one in existence, there are planes we do not see and what transpires there really has an impact here. I will stop being cryptic here and close this post.
In the end, my point is - just watch this bloddy movie, it's good!
The escape from Hell...
The opening exorcism sequence
The movie's concept of Hell
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