Hereafter Movie Review

Director Clint Eastwood really knows his stuff. He delivers a great film in Hereafter.

The film is about emotions and feelingof love and trust. Hereafter is not about ghosts wanting to tell their tale but rather about the persons they leave behind and what they would do just to find the answers to the question most of us ask,"Why?" The film explores death and the afterlife with grace, passion and love. It really shows us that death is something of a great mystery to all of us and a lot of people are asking what happens when we all pass.

The film showcases a lot of great acting skills from different actors. Academy Award winner Matt Damon greatly portrays a psychic who finds himself trapped between the world of the living and the dead. He is unable to live his own life because a lot of people want his help to talk to their love ones. Once he goes down that road, everything in his life come tumbling down.

Another great performance is from actressCecile De France. She does a great portrayal of a very strong journalist who experienced death and had the chance to come back to the land of the living. With all her wealth and strenght, she is unable to find answers and even faced with humiliation when she tried to write a book about her experience in the afterlife. She showed us how a strong woman who has nothing to fear and has known no failures can fall, be alone and then rise up above all the speculations about her and her experience with death.

Probably the most touching part of the film, and what connected Damon's character to France, is the story of the twin brothers Jason and marcus played by real life twins Frankie and George McLaren. Their story tells the true strength of brotherhood and how one would react if the other one is suddenly taken from his life. It is because of Marcus's persistence to talk to his dead brother that he ended up looking for anyone to help him even if later he finds out that they are fakes. The most emotional part of the film is when Damon's character George Lonegan did a reading for Marcus after he persistently followed him anywhere he went and stayed outside of his hotel in the cold just to wait for him. In that scene, we get to see that even if we feel alone, there is always someone watching over us.

The film also has a lot of great locations as well as a great score. Added in the mix is probably one of the great special effects created for a film. In the opening part of the film, we get to see what a tsunami really does and we get to feel as we were the ones drowning.

Clint Eastwood delivers a true emotional film. He depicts the afterlife not as a sleazy horror filled world which is what most film depict it. He shows to the audience that feeling of loss and the feeling of closure. He is able to share to the audience what his characters are feeling making us all connected to them. Maybe some of us can relate and maybe some are sceptical. The decision to believe is our own decision.

Hereafter is a film of balance and emotions. And I highly recommend it. It's not really about the afterlife, but the choices we make in order to overcome loss and continue to move on in our lives. I give it 8.5 out of 10.