Book/Book/Movie Review: Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, Consolations of Philosophy, Public Enemies

Reviewed in this post:

Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism

by Gershem Scholem

originally published 1946

The Consolations of Philosophy

by Alain De Botton

2001

Public Enemies

d. Michael Mann

s. Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Marion Cotrillard

I. Book Review: Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism by Gershem Scholem

You know a book is authoritative when the cover has a quote from Harold Bloom which says, "The book's influence has been enormous, and that is likely to continue all but indefinetly." That's a solid recommendation. I decided to read it because I asked my Rabbi friend "Can you recommend me a single book on the subject of Jewish Mysticism?" and this book is what he selected.

My recent reading about Hindu/Vedic, Greek, Roman culture has led me to be interested in the currents of mysticism in the ancient (and therefore modern) world. Most particularly, the idea of transmigration of souls or "reincarnation" as the hindu's call it, is something that is quite central to Hindu and Buddhist doctrine, is a central belief of Pythagoreous and is also present within Jewish mystical circles as well. I think it is interesting to see how this idea of reincarnation spread. It seems like something that is simeltaneously both native to the human race and yet foreign to many "advanced" or "modern" religions.

Jewish mysticism is basically a) Hasidim midevial/modern and b) Kabbalah Spanish/Palestine. I suppose it's an interesting topic if you have a cultural interest in Judaism, but from an "ancient mystical beliefs" perspective it's only so-so; mainly because mystical Judaism has been heavily influenced by Christian and Islamic mysticism (and Hindu mysticism) and the records have not been preserved very well. So you can't go that far back, and the subject isn't as well developed as you see in Christianity or Islam, let alone Hindusim and Buddhism. Hence, I can't really recommend that anyone check out this book unless you are super into heavy german style academic prose and lots and lots of references to "gnosticism."

II. Book Review: The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain De Botton

I wanted to throw this in here as a "shout-out" to Alain de Botton. He's a writer I've been meaning to check out for months since I read about him in Monocle magazine. His published work is kind of in the area of your Malcolm Gladwell's and Stephen Hawkings. Botton is a philosophy (tenured?) professor at University of London, which is not as prestigious as Cambridge and Oxford but is located in London proper.

This book is basically "Philosophy for Dummies" or rather "Philosophy for not-Dummies." Using about three photographs per page (not kidding) Botton breaks down how we can apply various Western philospohies to our everyday life. Like "Socrates tells you how to accept what life metes out to you" and "Seneca tells you to act when you get really screwed over." It's so casually written it requires roughly the same level of brain capacity you muster for an US weekly, and in that way I'd recommend that almost anyone check it out since it functions as a kind of high level "self help" book, and everyone eats up that shit with a spoon.

III. Moview Review: Public Enemies d. Michael Mann

I respect the films of Michael Mann from a criminal defense lawyer pespective. He does a reasonably good job of conveying the work of criminals. Here he creates a film which is likely to be considered his masterpiece. I thought it was Oscar worthy. Johnny Depp turns in a nuanced performance as John Dillinger. Christian Bale is convincing as FBI agent in charge Melvin Purvis. Mann has clearly been watching the films of Terence Malick, specifically The Thin Red Line.

I think Mann's departure from typical narrative/film grammar traditions will make some viewers "confused" by this film to the point where they come out and say they don't like it, but any criticisms of the film itself from a technical/artistic stand point are misguided, I think.

I'll admit I looked at the Metacritc score (70) before I wrote this review. I def. agree with the lovers- not the haters here. Maybe it's because I spend every single day of my life immersed in the world of criminal law, but Public Enemies is an epic success in my mind. Looking at his IMDB profile, it's obvious this is by far the best movie of his entire career.