I saw the movie and have not read the book. That said, I think that whether one can understand the movie properly with that background depends on whether you're a low-context or high-context person. That is, do you enjoy stories where you are required to infer large quantities of the world-building as you go along? Or do you prefer stories where you're given more up-front to work with? This one is definitely in the former category.
But "understand" and "enjoy" are two different things. I didn't particularly enjoy the movie (although I would have seen it even knowing in advance that I wouldn't). But reading or not reading the book in advance is irrelevant to that lack of enjoyment.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2009-03-09 01:36 am (UTC)But "understand" and "enjoy" are two different things. I didn't particularly enjoy the movie (although I would have seen it even knowing in advance that I wouldn't). But reading or not reading the book in advance is irrelevant to that lack of enjoyment.