The Name of the Rose (1986)

The Name of the Rose Poster

14th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young novice arrive at a conference to find that several monks have been murdered under mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church's authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his intelligence – which is considerable.

Overview
"The Name of the Rose" is a movie adaptation of Umberto Eco's eponymous book, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, starring Sean Connery and released in 1986. The film, like the book, is embeded in the fourteenth century and combines elements of secret, historical, and philosophical fiction. Leveraging historic occasions of the time, it explores styles of faith, reasoning, and power struggles within the Catholic Church.

Plot
The plot unravels in an isolated Benedictine abbey set down high in the Italian Alps. A series of mysterious deaths troubles the abbey, leading the Abbot to seek aid from William of Baskerville (Sean Connery), a Franciscan monk, and erstwhile Inquisition inquisitor. Accompanied by his young beginner Adso (played by Christian Slater), William started an investigation into these deaths. The peculiar common hint in these deaths was the blackened finger and tongue of the victims, suggesting poisoning of some kind.

Examination and the Secret Library
William starts to believe that the abbey's secret may be connected to its library, an elaborate maze of books, considered to be the most substantial in Christendom. The monks safeguard the understanding within zealously, causing the library to be both the intellectual possession and the source of power and contention in the abbey. Attempting to penetrate its secrets and acquire clues about the deaths, the set has to face the puzzling head librarian Malachi (Volker Prechtel) and his assistant Berengar (Helmut Qualtinger).

The Forbidden Book of Aristotle
The investigator work leads William and Adso to reveal that the suspicious deaths connected to a forbidden book including secrets about human laughter. This book, thought to be Aristotle's lost 2nd book of poetics, proves heretical to the church's belief that laughter undermines faith and severe idea. It gets speculated that the pope might see the contents of the book as heresy, with the anticipation of a power struggle developing in between the impoverished Franciscans and the rich papacy.

Last Confrontation and Resolution
In the last act of the film, the Inquisition, led by Bernardo Gui (F. Murray Abraham), gets here, turning the abbey into a theater of worry and accusation. William confesses his findings to Gui, but the church rejects the logical reason for the criminal offense, detaining an innocent monk rather as a scapegoat for witchcraft. An unintentional fire breaks out, resulting in a major part of the Abbey and its library being destroyed. The movie ends with Adso, now an old man, assessing the occasions of his past and the loss of vital understanding to the violence of worry and ignorance.

The Significance of the Film
"The Name of the Rose" uses a thought-provoking critique of the medieval church's suppression of understanding and complimentary idea. Using a complex plot and historic context, it explores how power and fear can result in destruction. The film remains an iconic look for its performance, particularly by Sean Connery, and its deep exploration of complicated styles.

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