Life After Death

 

My mom died 7 years ago, yesterday, and I miss her so much but, I bet, I am not alone in people missing their moms or dads. It had me think about how many conversations my mom and I had about life after death. We could talk for a long time about this topic and my mom was hopeful that this actually existed. There are a few films about this very topic and I chose 3 that my mom really liked and here they are..

1. BETWEEN TWO WORLDS-1944

I love this film about a group of people piled into a cab ready to get to the wharf and board a ship to the States when they get hit by a bomb. 2 others, a husband and wife, completely separate from this group decide to end their lives together by turning on the gas in their apartment. They wake up on a ship and realize they are dead but the group in the cab, have no idea. We meet the whole group from the loud mouthed reporter to a gossipy rich bitch and her sweet husband to a sailor coming home to be with his wife and small baby. While on board, the group slowly learn what really happened to them. It makes one think about what happens when one dies. It’s a great film about characters and the afterlife. One of my personal favourites and one my mom saw one night and very much enjoyed it. This was Erich Korngold’s favourite musical piece he created for film.

2. HEAVEN CAN WAIT-1978

This is an excellent remake of the 1941 film, “ Here Comes Mr. Jordan”  and, I think, it’s just as good as the original. My mom and I went to see it in the movie theatre and we both liked it for the light comedy but mixed with sadness that still can bring a tear to my eye. Warren Beatty play a football star who dies but is placed into the body of a rich man because the angel got too eager and took Joe’s soul before he actually died. His body was cremated so now he is in a real dilemma because he should never have died, the head angel, played so well by the great James Mason,  decide to place him int9 the murdered body of a filthy rich man. You find out the guys not too happy widow and his attorney are having an affair and killed the real rich dude.  The love interest, played by the. Real-life love interest, Julie Christie, realizes that the cold-hearted rich dude has changed somehow and now wants to help her and the charity she is passionate about. You also have his couch, played so well by Jack Warden, who realizes that the rich bloke is his friend Joe. I always felt most sad for the character played by Jack. This is a real gem.

3. WHAT DREAMS MAY COME-1998

This is another film both my mom and I went to see and we both loved it. Robin Williams gives an excellent portal of a loving father and husband who dies and is in his own personal heaven heavily reliant on paintings he loves. In Fact, this film was one of the first for a great contribution to a new way of visual effects and art direction. The main character, played by the great, Robin Williams, loves art so when he is in heaven, everything looks and feels like a painting. There he meets an angel played by Cuba Gooding Jnr who tells him his wife has committed suicide and is in purgatory. Robin decides that he must save her and he travels through a Dantesque landscape which feels very heavy and foreboding. It really makes you think about the hereafter and how heaven may look. It is visually stunning, well acted, heroic and a real love story that defies the ages. Funny, this film’s original print was destroyed in the Universal fire in 2008 and they found a copy in Europe just like some very old films you hear about. 

Which films can you think of about the afterlife that you like?