Blood Is Blood-Woody Allen’s Cassandra’s Dream (2007) -A Film Review

DVD Review

By Sam Lowell

Cassandra’s Dream, Colin Farrell, Ewan McGregor, written and directed by Woody Allen (2007)  

Over a long career Woody Allen had acted in, written and directed many films, mostly playing to his ironic twist of fate sense of humor or as spoof. Occasionally, and the film under review, Cassandra’s Dream, is a recent example, he has stretched out a bit and tried his hand at other types of material. Here he tries to work through a complicated tale of the fate of two brothers who due to their own hubris came to a bad end, tried to tempt the gods just a little too closely. (That Cassandra of the title by the way if you remember your Greek mythology, remember that bloody Trojan war, portended nothing but doom and gloom so beware of her curse as she works her way to modern times under Woody’s pen.)       

Here is where the fates played our boys false. Ian and Terry two Brit working stuff brothers with the usual big dreams about breaking out of the working world and hitting the big time seem to be bogged down in the humdrum life-Terry working in a garage and Ian working in the family restaurant. Yeah, these guys are ready to break out and make a first tentative move by buying a boat to satisfy some boyhood dreams from part of Terry’s winning via his momentary winning gambling ways. Pay attention to that “momentary” because his gambling problems will along with Ian’s big break dreams of hitting it big in the hotel business lead them to some odd behavior for two reasonably well brought up boys.      

Naturally a woman enters into the story, a great looking young actress with lots of promise and who has Ian going through hoops to make like he is a big-time operator. Put that big lust together with Terry’s gambling woes and you have two guys who might very well be ready to do anything to get out from under. And they get their opportunity to test the limits of that proposition. Enter rich Uncle Tom, the guys’ mother’s brother who has plenty of dough and has bailed out the family in various ways in the past. But just then Uncle Tom had a problem that might upset the whole works. Somebody in his organization was ready to blow the whistle on him and he faces nothing but hard time in some stinking jail if he can’t get out from under. The guy has to be gotten rid of somehow if everybody in the family is to get well again. So murder is in the air, murder most foul.     

Of course the nicely brought up boys balked at first but when the deal went down they were ready to take the leap, Ian more fully than Terry. But these guys are strictly out of the gang that couldn’t shot straight and make a mess of the thing before doing the deed. Now there are reasons why every “civilized” society puts the murder, the homicide, of a fellow human being beyond the pale and so Terry begins to crack up almost immediately after the successful caper. Can’t be brought to get over his guilt and move on despite Ian’s constant entreaties. This calls for serious drastic action on the part of Ian and Uncle Tom. This weak link has to be gotten rid of, yes, murdered, murdered most foul-by Ian. The plan worked out was that Ian would administer heavy doses of drugs which Terry had been taking, over-taking to assuage his guilt, and dump his body in the sea. 

So the last we see of the guys, the nicely brought up guys, was them heading out to sea on that little dream boat, that Cassandra’s Dream that had lighted the flame of their hunger for serious dough. In the end Ian couldn’t do it, Terry wanted to turn the pair in, they fight and in the melee Terry killed Ian. Then himself. Yeah they should have had sense enough to listen to Cassandra and her warnings of doom and gloom. Nice change of pace Woody.