This film took my breath away. The way it was filmed was amazing and beautiful. The acting was so powerful that you could really feel what the character's were experiencing. This film is really all about hope, surrounded by love, loss, and tragedy. It is about believing that anything is possible, if only you set your mind to it...
In the story, Chris (played by Robin Williams) and his wife (played by Anabella Sciorra) lose their children in a car accident. His wife is never really able to come to terms with it. A few yrs later, on the way to doing an errand for his wife, Chris comes upon a major car crash under a tunnel. In trying to help a person in one of the cars, he is abruptly killed. You kind of know it is going to happen before it does, you can sense it but It is so sudden, all you see is it coming and then blackness...the way it would be in real life and that is what makes it feel so realistic. The effect is shocking and dramatic.
In the beginning, Chris goes through denial and grief over his own death and has trouble coming to terms with it. He sees that his wife is slowly losing it and feels powerless and unable to do anything. A dramatic part in the film, is when he gets her to take her pen and write that he does exist. It is so moving, you almost begin to cry and throughout most of the film you struggle to keep from crying...at least i did...
Once Chris accepts his death, he is able to move forward towards heaven. In the film, heaven is portrayed from the point of view of the main character. We are gradually shown through the character's eyes that heaven is whatever you have imagined it to be, your ideal fantasy.
In Chris' heaven, there are beautiful landscapes, filled with colorful flowers, trees, water, with colorful splotches of paint everywhere. Chris' wife was an artist, a painter and he begins to realize that her paintings come to life in his own heaven. This realization leads him to believe that they are soulmates because of the intense connection that still remains between the two of them. Her real life paintings are actually projected into his heaven. It is as if they can still feel each other, despite the fact that he is dead and she is alive.
But the film does not end here...When his wife commits suicide, it becomes apparent that they are doomed to be apart forever. Chris does not realize it right away as he had never thought that far ahead. He becomes aware of the reality of things when it is explained to him by his guide.
The reality is that people who commit suicide do not ever get to see the people who are in heaven. Despite this fact, Chris is determined to change the rules. He will not accept this and sets out on a journey to find his wife so that they can be together, once again. Basically, Chris must literally go through Hell, in order to find his wife. The depiction of hell seems to be very reminiscent of Dante's Inferno.
Through out the film, it is reinforced again and again that everything Chris sees, feels, experiences is through the power of his mind. And, in the end, he realizes that the power he needs in order to be reunited with his wife, is within himself.
The film's main idea is really about believing in yourself and realizing that you have the power to make what you want happen, to make your dream a reality...The film shows us that anything is possible, if only you believe.
Chris' strength is that he never gives up and is determined to be reunited with his wife again. His belief is so powerful that he is able to reach her, all the way from heaven to hell. The impossible becomes possible. And, once they both believe in themselves and each other, their dream to be reunited becomes a reality.