The Hereafter - the movie

Ever since my first near-death or mystical experience at four, I’ve been fixated on the afterlife. In 1996, when I returned to heaven, death and the beyond became an obsession. I couldn’t wait to see the movie, Hereafter, directed by Clint Eastwood.

I hate to admit it but the reviews for the movie weren’t favourable but it didn’t deter Judy, her son Michael, and I from seeing it.

The movie concerns a woman who has a spectacle near-death experience, a reluctant psychic who doesn’t want to give readings anymore, and a young boy whose twin brother is killed. At the end of the movie, they all meet up at a book fair in London.

Judy said, “She realized that this meeting was for dramatic affect.”

I said, “The Divine can do anything.”

Judy nodded.

We both agreed that anybody who has ever lost a loved one would be drawn into this movie. Judy, Michael and I all identified with the movie.

Judy told me, that Michael who had never been able to articulate his grief at loosing his brother was able to identify with Marcus, the young boy. Michael said, “I was deeply touched by the story of the boy ‘cause I’ve lost my brother and it made me remember him.”

Judy said, “I am a firm believer in the afterlife and when my son Mathew died I was relentless in my pursuit of finding him and talking to him. I proved to myself that he still existed and was well.”

The movie was thought provoking. Eastwood accurately portrayed the after shock and isolation the woman felt after her near-death experience. I sympathized with her. I could also relate to the reluctant psychic.

The only complaint I had is that whenever they showed the spirit world it looked like an ambiguous place. The souls in the Hereafter appeared blurry like embodied spirits aimlessly wandering. It’s not the heaven that I saw or described by millions of near-death survivours.

I highly recommend it. And don’t forget to bring Kleenex.