A soul's journey

Rating: 8/10 (21 December 2012)

This was an extraordinary film, spanning many centuries and many past and future lives of a select few souls.
I haven't read the book but after seeing this film I will definitely be buying a copy.
My understanding of the movie is as follows:
1) Each of us has soul-mates, and these are souls who we have a connection with in our current life, and also in our past and future lives. A soul-mate isn't necessarily our lover but can also be an enemy or a friend or an employer or a relative. If they are not already part of your life then your paths will one day cross and when it does you will be drawn to each other and will continue to be drawn to each other in every future life, in what ever capacity.
2) After death, the soul is reincarnated in to a different body. The soul remains the same, but the body is different. Somehow, the soul recognises other key souls from previous lives, even though the body is different. The relationships between souls are different in each life. For example, two souls could be lovers in one life, colleagues in another life and friends in another life. Despite the relationship, the same souls are drawn to each other in each lifetime.
3) In the movie, the same actor is used to depict each soul's journey, so that the viewer can see the past and future lives of each soul. In each past and future life, the soul will have a different body, a different face, and even a different gender or ethnicity but the soul remains the same. This would be impossible to film, so to make it easy for viewers to understand what's happening, the same actor has been used in the various lives of each soul.
4) From womb to tomb, we are bound to others. From birth until death, we are bound to our soul-mates and every decision we make affects those around us and can potentially ripple through the centuries.
5) The soul evolves over the course of many lifetimes, so that you could be an evil murderous doctor in one lifetime, a murderous writer in another, a brave and unfortunate scientist in another, and a courageous and loyal survivor in another. It's as though the soul learns lessons in each life which can impact on the next life.
I'm sure there was much more to the film than that but nevertheless these are the main things that stood out to me. I can't wait to read the book now. This movie is definitely worth watching a few times!