Book/DVD Guzzler Recommends:

These are reviews of Movies, Books and sometimes Music Albums. They might seem ridiculously positive, but these are works that I think everyone should read/see/listen to.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Title: Flatliners
Director: Joel Schumacher
Actors: Keifer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, Oliver Platt, William Baldwin.
Runtime: 115 min.

I had seen this movie before in Social Studies class, when we were talking about different religions and other belief systems and life & death. I was overwhelmed by it and loved, but I had not seen it since. So when I recently found it on DVD for only 6.99 I could not let it go. I had to have it. And I got it.


And so yesterday I watched it for the second time and I remembered why I loved it so much. It is so dark. It has a gothic feel to it and the architecture of the building that they used for the actors to do the experiment in was amazing. It fascinated me. Those paintings on the walls (I think they were frescoes) intrigued me and those statues, especially the one that was only a head made me want to visit the building myself. The whole look of the movie is very powerful and it really makes the story more interesting

The story, itself, is great too. It already starts with the opening sentence of the movie: 'Today is a good day to die.' This one sentence already tells you what type of movie it is. I have always been interested in stories about life and death, why we are here and if there is life after death.

These kind of questions have often gone through my mind and I have written a lot of poetry about them. This movie handles it very well. It does not really give one concrete answer, which means it does not really show one perspective about this subject. They played it pretty safe, because it only shows that there might be life after death and that things from the past affect our lives whether it happens consciously or subconsciously. And it is also about forgiveness and letting go of the past, without showing one perspective from one religion.

Those blasts from the past, sins as they were called in the movie, were fascinating. I, myself, prefer not to use the word 'sin'. I think it is a rather ugly word. I prefer to call them mistakes.

Each character made a mistake that was shown by there brief moments of being dead, for instance Keifer Sutherlands character keeps getting attacked by a boy whom he had picked on badly when he was younger. I would say anything more for those who have not seen it yet.

It also is about morals and what is ethical and what not. These med students make their hearts stop on purpose to see if there is an afterlife and what it is like. Especially Keifer's character. He wants 'all the answer to the old questions no one has answered before' He is in it for the fame, while the others are not. He goes out of control eventually and each individual has to deal with his or her own repercussions of the experiment. How they do that, you just have to see for yourself, if you have not already.


In short, this is a simple, but powerful movie filled with big stars, which, of course, is not a guarantee for a good movie. It does work out fine in this movie. It is nice and dark and I am sure it is too dark for some people, but if you like movies that are about life and death, watch it. The story may not be too original, but it is sure worth watching it. I give it a 7/10.

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