Review of What Dreams May Come (1998) by Sergej P — 22 Apr 2010

I guess this is one of these movies that make girls cry - from beginning to end, I mean. True, the movie has something epical and mythical - it's almost like Orpheus and Euridice in the underworld. But then again, it's not. It all begins with when a perfect man and a perfect woman meet, they fall in love, get two wonderful children, live in a great house, and have a splendid life. First they lose their children in a car crash, then the man dies in an accident. Finally the woman commits suicide. Most part of the movie deals with the afterlife: the man hears his wife died but can't join him: people want us to believe God decided that people committing suicide go to hell, remember? After finding his children in heaven (which in his case consists of a painting by his wife) he goes out to hell to get her. He doesn't succeed in convincing her to follow him, and out of love for her he decides to stay. This decision gets rewarded and all end up in heaven anyway. The grown ups decide to reincarnate, and in a next life they already find each other when they are children.

This film is all about true love, but it's just a bit too much and too sweet for me to stomach. Besides, there is no heaven or hell or afterlife at all. It's just a silly little christian fairy tale for scared people. Do you really think God would send you to hell if you commit suicide? Come on! If there was a God, he would probably care less. Since when did Buddhist and Hinduist reincarnation become an okay thing in christian Hollywood? Do people really believe they will find each other again in Jersey once they reincarnated? Isn't there a slightly bigger chance the man will be a rhinoceros in Kenya and the woman reincarnates into a butterfly in Japan? I can deal with quite a bit of romance and fantasy, but this was just a little too much to my liking. The special effects are very good though, and Annabella Sciorra is a beautiful actress indeed.