the bible teach u that the love of money be the root of all evil . the love of money lead to greed which can lead to pride and eventually to destruction . two brother and andy and hank and will discover how far the love of money will cost them and those they love the most . andy hanson ( philip seymour hoffman ) and his young brother hank ( ethan hawke ) couldn not be more different . andy be seemingly enjoy the success of work in new york real estate market and be marry to his beautiful wife gina ( marisa tomei ) who be the idea of a trophy wife if one ever exist . hank and however and be divorcée who find himself at the mercy of his ex wife and his daughter expensive school bill and and endless amount of child support payment . a man who mean well and have good intention and hank none the less can not escape the water that his slowly raise above his head no matter how hard he swim to stay above it . however and andy have his own problem with the only difference between him and his brother be that he hide them well . he have commit fraud against his company and be heavily involve in drug use in order to escape his fear . the pressure of his life and and the lie he need to keep his appearance up and have now cause him to think about flee the country with gina in order to start over again . of course and like hank and he need money to do this and believe he know how to get it . how . by rob the jewelery store that their parent own and run . this act of betrayal be where the hanson brother and their family and and several other life and will be destroy because of greed and pride and and fear . the uniqueness of before the devil know youre dead be the manner in which the story be tell . after the robbery go wrong and and nanette hanson ( rosemary harris ) who be the mother of both andy and hank be kill and the story be tell from a variety of different point of view from various day before and after the robbery attempt . we learn more about the motivation of not only andy and hank but also the reaction to their father charles ( albert finney ) to the death of his wife . the relationship between charles and his two son and especially to andy and be also explore and another possible motivation of sort be discover after it be reveal that there be little love between the two men . nanette may have be dearly love by her son but their father be a different story . philip seymour hoffman prove once more why he be one of the most impressive actor in hollywood today by portray andy a not only a greedy criminal with lack of morality but also and in contradictory way and a a man we can sympathize with . ethan hawke also bring hank alive not just a a loser but really a a man just desperate to hang on to what little he have leave . andy and hank be thus bring to life in such a realistic way that it be easy to think of them a not just character but the very real image of lose and confuse men who now find themselves face the consequence of their action . before the devil know youre dead be a moral tale about how our action lead to consequence that we otherwise might not expect to face . more than that and our choice also can affect those around u in way we never expect . in what should have be best picture of the year and we see how life be easily break when the love of money become the ultimate pursuit in order to ease our troubled life . in other word and there be no easy fix or answer to our problem and try to find them can only make thing bad . positive .