>>350551 http:// articles.chicagotribune.com/2000-01-23/news/0001230275_1_movie-magnolia-frog

Movies. Behind the screen.

Abundance Of Symbols In `Magnolia' Has Filmgoers Looking For Clues

January 23, 2000|By Mark Caro, Tribune Movie Writer.

The most obvious "clue" is the big "Exodus 8:2" sign that the quiz show audience member holds up and has taken away from him. If you checked your Bible after seeing "Magnolia," you probably weren't surprised to see that the cited verse refers to the plague of frogs.

But did you catch all of the other 8's and 2's scattered throughout the movie, including on billboards, a hanged man's chest and a weather forecast ("82 percent humidity") and in apartment and mugshot numbers, a posted meeting time (8:20 p.m.), cards dealt in a blackjack hand and even the shape of a long cord?

Exodus 8:2 "If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country."