When \u201cThe Ninth Gate\u201d was released in 1999, critics found the movie pointless. But that\u2019s because they completely missed the point of the movie. Through symbolism, \u201cThe Ninth Gate\u201d tells a story of occult initiation while commenting on the elite\u2019s obsession with Satanism. Here\u2019s a look at this much-overlooked movie.<\/p>\n
Warning: 25-year-old spoilers ahead!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n When The Ninth Gate<\/em> was first released in 1999, it wasn\u2019t a big commercial success. Critics said the movie \u201cmeandered aimlessly\u201d and had a \u201clackluster ending\u201d that not even Johnny Depp\u2019s star power could save.<\/p>\n At first glance, the critics were correct: The Ninth Gate<\/em> appears to be about Johnny Depp running around various countries while lighting cigarettes at every opportunity he gets. And after about two hours, the movie ends in a rather anti-climactic way.<\/p>\n But at second glance, these critics completely missed the movie\u2019s point. The Ninth Gate <\/em>is not a Pirates of the Caribbean-<\/em>style adventure but a highly symbolic story of initiation where the protagonist\u2019s \u201cmeandering\u201d is actually an allegorical ritual, and the \u201canti-climatic ending\u201d is nothing less than spiritual illumination guided by the Whore of Babylon in the flesh.<\/p>\n However, none of this is spelled out in the movie; it is all meant to be decoded. Indeed, the movie\u2019s underlying meaning can only be understood once the symbols and occult references peppered throughout the film are pieced together, like Corso (Johnny Depp\u2019s character) pieces together pages from a Satanic book.<\/p>\n