Angel's struggle with religion and God ...
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I think it's strange that Angel's crisis of faith and inner turmoil regarding the existence of God was omitted from this adaptation.
In my opinion, Angel is a totally hateful character. He is a hypocrite in the first degree, and selfish. But the MAIN scene that makes me hate him was not shown here. That scene being his conversation with Tess at stonehenge, when she realizes that they've come to the end of their journey, and that her capture and inevitable execution are close at hand.
She is dejected and desperate and asks him if she thinks they will meet again in heaven... and he says NO! Because he doesn't believe in heaven or God, he says. Couldn't the jerk have told a white lie, just to appease his poor wife in one of her most desperate moments? I don't think I've ever been more furious at a fictitious character before.
Was anyone else disappointed that this pivotal, character-defining scene was left out of the movie?
...rolling downhill like a snowball headed for hell...