It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

One of the most ambitious films I have ever seen and it delivers throughout. The visuals are stunning, the score plays a significant role in the atmosphere and the use of child actors adds fundamental new meaning to the original stage play. It's a philosophical view on good and evil and tackles the big questions of life via poetry, history and surrealism. Though made to look like a dream, it touches on profound questions of reality.One scene which was particularly though-provoking was the one in which a woman gives birth while standing above an open grave. The cycle of life and death, hinted at by the quote from Ecclesiastes right at the beginning, is here taken to its visual extreme. This harrowing image is followed by a very serene sequence, portraying the eternal peace of the deceased.In all of this the choice for child actors adds extra layers of meaning. Their very age seems to comment on the issues shown: death, violence, injustice and so on. There is a lot of blood and a lot of lust shown on screen, but the actors are still playing hide and seek and let's pretend in real life. It's that mixture of playful innocence and adult history, adorned with some of the most beautiful literary quotes, which gives this film its daring and unique style.One of the themes running through the film is the question of how we look at the world, at ourselves and at history. The movie challenges us to open up and accept unusual viewpoints, which is what all great art does, in my opinion. It's necessary, especially when confronted with violence and injustice and forced to look for solutions.I do admit it's trying at times and it was mostly out of curiosity to see this remarkable achievement all the way through that I watched the whole thing. Still, it left me with an impression unlike anything else I have seen before. I wonder what the actors think of the film now that they have all grown up and how they look back on their experience in making it. Maybe it felt just like a dream.

Every now and then I read a book or see a movie that leaves me increasingly puzzled, even frustrated - until suddenly, towards the end, everything comes together and it all makes sense (the first time I remember this was John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany"). This movie is just such a creation.The plot idea is superb: Adam and Eve, having succumbed to Lucifer's temptation, are cast out of the garden of Eden. Adam holds Lucifer to his promise: "You said I would know everything!"; so Lucifer, in return, grants Adam a dream of the world to come. And what a bizarre dream: Adam becomes Miltiades in Athens; a knight called Tancred in Byzantium; Kepler in Prague; Danton in revolutionary Paris; and a nameless suitor in industrial London. All of the episodes end in tragedy, and all involve a man separated for ever from his true love.Other critics have commented on how the episodes become increasingly surreal and confusing, and by three-quarters of the way through the movie I was as bewildered as anyone. But it is when Adam awakes, and Eve tells him that she is carrying his child, that it all starts to come together. Adam has seen his descendants create a world that spirals into madness; and he has also seen that in his misguided attempt to stay forever with Eve, he has condemned all his descendants to separation, whether by death, deceit, adultery, or even misguided piety. His heartfelt plea to God as he clutches his pregnant wife's abdomen - "Lord, shall my kind progress, or like cattle in the treadmill stay within the circle?" - is a challenge. Have we progressed, or have we fulfilled Lucifer's vision of a self-created Hell? The movie is beautifully filmed, with little bizarre touches weaving a dream-like milieu. There are some fine performances, particularly from the eerily beautiful Lucifer. All-in-all a weird and thought-provoking movie.

This is a very well acted play (brought to film, then to video), however, it is not likely that the majority of movie watchers will take pleasure in it. The beginning is biblical fact, and then it becomes the writers idea. It is based upon the book of Genesis and Ecclesiastes, with a touch of the New Testament. In the beginning it is Biblical Fact (Genesis)-> Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, tempted by Satan to eat of the fruit that gives the knowledge of good and evil. HOWEVER, after they are sent from Eden, the story becomes the imagination of the writer! When I first watched this movie, I shook my head and thought it was a heartless, worthless effort to depress people. I just wanted it to end. BUT the ending summed it all up for me and I appreciated the entire movie for it! I do not know why the entire movie is performed by children (between 8 and 12 years of age), but I do know that they did an outstanding job!!! Yes, it is STRANGE, but isn't that what makes a movie unique!?

A downbeat, hypnotic retelling of Mankind's story from Adam and Eve to the present, played entirely by children. But don't expect a romp -- these kids are deadly serious as they tackle issues of mortality, religion, and the struggle of class against class. Brilliant photography enhances the deliberate pacing, yet the film is never boring. Literary sources include Emily Dickinson and William Blake, and every line is delivered with full conscious intention. Especially effective is the Byzantium sequence, where a single syllable (homousios, or homoiousios) means the difference between life and death. Seldom has the narcotic influence of religious power been so effectively portrayed. The use of a cast composed entirely of children is a conceit that lends itself to preciousness, but here it succeeds without the least trace of "cuteness". In sum, a daring, challenging, and ultimately worthwhile experiment.