The Libertine (Laurence Dunmore, 2005)

 I have said it many times that great movies, movies that are daring, get most of the times absolute no attention from the audience. The Libertine a totally forgotten Johnny Depp movie (one of his greatest and most brilliant performances) is the story of poet John Wilmot, 2nd Earl Of Rochester and his fierce anti-authoritarian character, works and deeds. When I first saw the movie, by luck because there was Johnny in there and he is one of my absolute favorite actors, I thought immediately of Marquis De Sade and the 2000 movie Quills. The two figures have a lot in common. If you by chance have read Marquis De Sade and liked something in him, then this movie will definitely be your cup of tea. Before the movie I had no idea of the existence of this poet and his brilliant work as also his rebellious character. The movie among other things, it opened my eyes and made me a little wiser, if you permit me to say that. I was so taken by the movie, the comments that it tried to communicate and the uncompromising character of the poet, that I almost forgot that I was watching a movie. I reacted like I was watching a documentary. 

The fact that such a fearless voice was unknown to me I take it as my own flaw. The fact that the movie tried to bring to the surface the work and life of this poet I consider it a bold work of social criticism. But the fact that so few people know or saw the movie and so few critics ever talk about this movie, I consider it a major shame. We all know and laugh with Jack Sparrow, but this captivating performance of Johnny Depp we hardly know it. That is the shame of fame. That is the shame of the thing that is called "popularity" which transforms to gods mediocre crap and dooms brilliant things to obscurity. I consider it my duty to speak and write about those obscure films, I consider it my duty to openly say that this thing with the "crappy burger" that we consume must at some point fucking stop. There are wonderful things out there, artistic pieces that have an amazing voice and we keep looking for the easy, the obvious, the one that they serve us, the famous and the popular. The Libertine is a movie that should have been the talk of the town and not the lost film of Johnny Depp.