'In the universe nothing is stronger than the law. On Earth nothing is stronger than love'
A Matter of Life and Death 8
The film opens with an explanation that what we are about to watch takes place partly in the real world, and partly in the mind of a pilot, Peter Carter (played by David Niven) who, faced with certain death, jumps from a flying plane with no parachute to avoid being burnt alive. He has accepted his fate, but he doesn't report to the airman wing of the gates to heaven, where he is expected and awaited for by his co-pilot.
I have always liked films which show that which isn't reality, at least isn't proven reality. It's something that film can do better than any other medium, and this film exceeds. It imagines the passage to the afterlife as an escalator to a platform where you sign in with a receptionist and collect your wings. The staff there call it the 'training center for another world'. I loved the sets and visual representation of all this post (or rather parallel) life stuff, which was all shown in black and white. The 'real world' is all shown in gaudy technicolour, a million miles away from the wonderfully misty colour pallette of another Powell & Pressburger film, The Battle of River Plate.
After his freefall, we see, in the oversaturated technicolour, him wake on a beach, washed up by the looks of it. He presumes he is in heaven but then meets June, the woman with whom he shared his last moments before jumping, albeit via a phone conversation. A man who, by rights, should be dead, but perhaps the force of love is enough to overturn the will of the gods. In the afterlife, after it is decided that he essentially cheated death, an angel is dispatched to visit him and explain the situation, that he is living on borrowed time. Peter argues that since he had no input into what happened, it was essentially a clerical error, he can't be held responsible and should be allowed to continue living until natural death occurs, mainly to be with June. This results in a climactic court case between him and the death establishment - an extended sequence including speeches which try to cover a wide range of moral ground. Most of which, although truly not all worked for me.
The film has a lovely strange yet familiar quality, established early on by the opening scene which takes us on a narrated journey through the universe, explaining away some of the cosmic phenomena as someome 'messing with uranium atoms'. There are some nicely done, pleasing effects including the stopping and reversing of time, and it wasn't until after I had let the film sit for a while that I really appreciated the full scale and detail of the production and set designs from the real world sequences, esleciallyvthe opening ten minutes including the plane fire at the start. I liked how with all the subject of death, there is no darkness here. Themes of forgiveness, inclusion and international togetherness all come together at the court case where it is argued that Peter's falling in love was indirectly a result of the oversight of the establishment, and therefore should not be treated atall harshly. There is a very sweet sequence where the court tries to prove whether or not Peter's love is reciprocated by June. Of course it is, but how they prove it is a delight, and very creative writing.
It is very sweet, romamtic and above all utterly unique, one of those charming films that makes you smile in comfort and appreciation. Talking of which, It's a Wonderful Life was released in the same year, and one of my very favourites Portrait of Jennie two years later - these three classics share elements of supernatural influence on the most everyday elements of daily human life. Taking something that we all understand, lovingly combined with things that none of us do, all wrapped up in a couple of hours of entertainment.
Isn't cinema phenomenal.
Comments