my favorite satan

Moments ago, I took note of the fact that the AFI is presenting the lifetime achievement award to Al Pachino, a true theatrical force of nature. Yes, I have missed many of the films in which he created some of his most memorable characters; Scarface, Oceans Eleven, Oceans Twelve, Oceans Thirteen, Fourteen...Forty One, ad infinitum, inclusive, etc.). Still, it is easy to remark on Pachino's trademark "full sensory sincerity," the ruthless, often uncomfortable honesty and passion that flow, unobstructed, between the actor and the audience, fueled by Pachino's boundless artistic energy. He's the bomb. Strictly speaking on appearance, he's okay in my book. Not a bad looking little Italian man, but he has charisma by the truckloads. Which made him such a natural for the one part that typecast him forever in my mind . No, no, it didn't typecast Pachino...it typecast Satan. The film was "The Devil's Advocate," (1997), and Al played John Milton, the consumate ambulance chaser on a cosmic level. He is the mythic leader of a premium New York law firm that specializes in defending the scum of the earth, and turns out to be a field office for the eighth circle of Hell. Pachino's John Milton is nothing short of "divinely" inspired (especially if you are of the school of thought that Satan, Lucifer, the devil, the adversary, whatever... is a fallen angel). There is a magic electricity which preceeds, radiates from, and lingers long after the flourishing exits of "John Milton" in every scene he "graces." It is in the relish with which he ravages the sanity of, and rapes the body of, his protege's wife, the stunning Charlize Theron. He exists in a room of living marble, which molds and metamorphosizes into various scenes and sculptures. They illustrate his stories and they compliment his moods with the fluid disassociation of Milton's free-flowing thoughts. The grand tomb is illuminated by a fire fueled by evil, centered in grand fireplace running the length of one wall...like the back route into the bat cave, a secret passage from that place straight into the firey pit of Hell. Milton is magnetic, exhuberent, generous, sensual and a really fun guy. At the climax of the film, we learn that the protege (sadly but not too badly played by Kenau Reeves) is actually the flesh-and-blood "antichrist," Milton's "son." The protege asks of his dad Satan, "Why the law?" Milton answers with gusto and glee, "Because, my boy! The law is in EVERYTHING!" He so thoroughly represents what we are supposed to expect of the devil: he is charismatic, attractive, controlling and pervasive. And Milton, my favorite Satan, laughs with a depth and breadth exceeded only by that of the wind itself...and leaves us to think on this line for our lives, "Vanity...DEFINITELY my favorite sin!" So thank you Al Pachino for John Milton. I live relatively certain in the fact that I will be looking in Pachino's glinting eye should anyone ever tap me on the shoulder and say, "Pleased to meet you. Hope you guess my name..."