Review of The Life Before Her Eyes (2007) by Al K — 28 Aug 2008

THE LIFE BEFORE HER EYES.

"The life before her eyes" is directed by Vadim Perelman and based on the novel by Laura Kasischke. It stars Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood.

Diana (Uma Thurman & Evan Rachel Wood) and Maureen (Eva Amurri) are two friends from high school who have very different characters. Diana is the slut,.

Maureen the nice girl from church. Then the two teens are involved in a Columbine-like shooting incident at their school and have to make an impossible.

Choice. Only one of them can live...

15 years later Diana is married and has a daughter. A memorial service at her high school brings back old memories and past and present start to intertwine.

The whole movie is a flash forward of Diana, as she lays dying on the floor of her school. In the view seconds before her death she sees her life as it could have been. As she is dying she realises that the flash forward is not real and as she is pulled back to reality past and present intertwine more and more.

The central theme of both the novel and the film is the loss of lives in these shooting incidents. Laura Mischance and Vladimir Perelman could not have driven that point home any better than they did. A beautifully told story with an unexpected twist that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

NOTE! This movie is NOT for people who just want to casualy undergo a film whilst eating a bag of potato chips. You actually have to be willing to use your brain on this one. That is what makes it worth while and also explains why it is so underrated (most people want to be hand fed a film).