The Bridge
Of San Luis Rey (2005)
religious drama
directed
by : Mary McGuckian
featuring
: Robert DeNiro - F.Murray Abraham - Kathy Bates - Gabriel Byrne - Geraldine
Chaplin
running
time : 2 hours 4 minutes
Thornton Wilder's award-winning novel is
given a lavish screen adaptation in this historical drama from writer and
director Mary McGuckian. In Peru in 1714, a rickety bridge collapsed as
five people were attempting to cross, forcing them to plunge to their deaths.
Brother Fray Juniper (Gabriel Byrne) is a Franciscan monk who has been
given the duty of looking into the tragedy by the archbishop of Lima (Robert
DeNiro), and to learn what he can about the victims. It is Juniper's belief
that these particular people died for some reason, and that it is his duty
to determine why God chose these five people to perish, while others in
the vicinity survived. After five years, Juniper delivers his findings
to the archbishop as well as the viceroy of Peru (F.Murray Abraham), as
Juniper tells them of the lives of the troubled Dona Maria (Kathy Bates),
the nun Pepita (Adriana Dominguez), warm-hearted Uncle Pio (Harvey Keitel),
street kid-turned-actress La Perichola (Pilar Lopez De Ayala), and others
involved in the tragedy. The Bridge Of San Luis Rey also features John
Lynch, and brothers Mark Polish and Michael Polish.