Commandments (1997)

Seth Warner has reached the end of his rope. Ever since his wife died two years earlier, his world has been in turmoil. He is despondent, his career has fallen apart, even his house has been destroyed. There seems to be nothing left for him to live for. Confused and angry after two years of suffering, he finally directs his wrath at God from the rooftop of his apartment building in New York City. In the midst of a wild thunderstorm he demands to know why he has been betrayed by the god he has believed in and honored his whole life. God's answer is to strike down Seth's dog in a bolt of lightning. Pushed beyond his limits, Seth decides to respond to his years of torment by breaking each of the biblical Ten Commandments. While staying with his sister-in-law, Rachel, much to the chagrin of her shifty reporter husband, Harry, he systematically sets out to break each commandment one by one. A natural at breaking commandments, Harry is drawn to Seth's mission in the hopes of using it to further his career, but ultimately they clash as Seth turns the table and uses Harry to fulfill some of his missions. Things get further complicated when Rachel and Seth are romantically drawn to each other as he struggles with his crisis of faith and she struggles with a failing marriage. Inevitably, Seth comes down to the last and most important commandment, Thou shall not kill. In a climactic battle of will and redemption, Seth, Harry and Rachel cross paths with a raging hurricane at the far end of Long Island. Echoing Seth's first confrontation with God, the sky and the sea open up in this fateful encounter at the Montauk Lighthouse. Individually, each confronts forces beyond human control and more importantly, must come to an understanding of their own life choices and decisions. The resolution to the story for all characters is surprising, mystical and ultimately just.