“God said; ‘Vengeance is Mine’.” Dantes smirked, “I don’t believe in God” The Abbe nodded knowingly “That doesn’t matter; He believes in you.” If you believed that God was the ruler of all things, and that you would keep your faith no matter what; would your beliefs survive a life sentence in an isolated prison? In Kevin Reynolds’s film adaptation of Alexander Dumas’ classic, The Count of Monte Cristo, Reynolds follows Dumas’ character Edmond Dantes, a sailor. Dantes is a saint of a man who always strives for moral high ground above ambition- only to find himself accused of consorting with French revolutionist Napoleon, by his best friend, Count Mondego. At first, Dantes appears to gradually lose his faith as he rots in prison, instead focusing…show more content… Once Dantes is hauled into the prison, he stands before the warden, Monsieur Dorleac with the expectation of convincing this man of his innocence..“Sir, I am sure you must hear this a great deal, but I assure you..I am innocent. (scoffs) Everyone must say that, I know! But, I truly am!” Dantes pleads. “..my dear Dantes, I know perfectly well that you are innocent, why else would you be here? If you were truly guilty, there are a hundred prisons in France where they would lock you away, but Chateau D’if is where they put the ones they’re ashamed of..” This conversation really marks the point at which Dantes begins to doubt that God really does exist. “(Dorleac- seeing the writing on the wall)…people are always trying to motivate themselves, or they keep calendars; but…I’ve conceived of another way for prisoners to keep track of time. Every year, on the day of their imprisonment we hurt them, usually a simple beating really..(chains Dantes to the ceiling) and if you’re thinking right now, ‘why me, oh God’, the answer is God has nothing to do with you; in fact, God is never in France this time of year.” “God has everything to do with it, He is everywhere, He sees everything.” whimpers…show more content… “Forgive my intrusion, but I was under the impression that I was digging towards the outer wall..I am Abbe Faria, I have been a prisoner in the Chateau D’if for 11 years; five which have been spent digging this (indicates hole in Dantes floor) tunnel..(starts laughing manically).” “There are 72,519 stones in my walls. I’ve counted them many times.” States Dantes. “Ahh, but have you named them yet?” asked the priest. (Dantes begins to cry..consumed by his melancholy). After calming Dantes down, Faria invites him over to ‘his cell’, where they bargain for services rendered; Dantes to help the priest dig, and in exchange, the priest would give Dantes “..something priceless, the gift of knowledge”. During the ensuing four years, both Dantes and Faria keep digging the tunnel, whilst Dantes learns to read, reason, and eventually pieces together the motive behind his imprisonment. “Newton’s 3rd law: there is a reaction to every action in physics..” states the priest. Dantes.. “Thus my lustful vengeance is a reaction to Donglars, Mondego?” “You once told me that Villefort had you rearrested just after he had cleared you of all the charges..” “Yes, that’s true..” “Then why would he go through that charade, unless he had reason to change his mind about letting you go? Think Edmond..”