An admirable fable

Rating: Null/10 (11 April 1999)

I enjoyed this film immensely. A fable about Death coming to earth as an atheist and leaving as an angel is going to test a lot of people's ideas about film as entertainment, including the film's producers. Brad Pitt is a major draw card and has a number of good scenes, but for me his Death lacked authority. Anthony Hopkins kept the piece going though with a convincing performance of the businessman out-negotiated in the ultimate deal. Jake Weber's Drew was also good, deftly handling the character we like at first but would grow to hate as we got to know him better. I heard friends complain of trite dialogue. Yet, talking is the opposite of what this film is about: I loved the pared down dialogue and the use of silence (how do you converse with Death?). Non-verbal communication gradually increased through the film and was triumphant in the climactic scene with Pitt and Forlani. This scene was a winner for me: from being a scene of a large party crowd, the camera pulls focus while the crowd soundtrack disappears and we are in the intensely private and concentrated moment of these two characters. Susan's love is without restriction, even knowing who he is and that he won't stay; Joe's receipt of that love and his new-found capacity for love in return converts him from Grim Reaper to Angel of Life. Only hardened cynics or those who missed the cinema door to the action flick will leave without a smile or a tear or both.