The Bottom Line: "All the way to heaven is heaven Caught between the spirit and the dust All the way to heaven is heaven Deep inside of us" ~Melissa Etheridge
susidee34's Full Review: Five People You Meet in Heaven
This was an interesting interpretation of how one views their self worth while they travel through life. It is sort of like Dickens's Christmas Carol brought into the 20th Century. Five People You Meet In Heaven centers on the life of Eddie, on his 83rd birthday, we travel back and forward in time to learn his story and how he affected those he met along the way.
Coming from a rather bleak background, Eddie strives for a better life but unfortunate circumstances during the war send him back to a place he thought he never return to ... Ruby Pier. Ruby Pier was the life Eddie viewed outside his window as he grew up, bringing him both heaven and hell. Now, he returns as a war vet, to take over the position his father held; maintenance worker at Ruby Pier.
An amusement park ride goes bad and Eddie attempts to save the life of a young girl that stands in the path of the falling machinery. Whether or not Eddie is successful in this attempt, I'll leave for you to find out. Without committing myself to admitting he lived or died, I will say that Eddie encounters the five people he may or may not meet in heaven and they, in turn, tell of how their lives were affected by knowing him.
It is a very convoluted story that begins at the ending and returns the same way. I found it to be similar to the classic six degrees of separation theory in the way that the way we communicate with one person can flow out to others lives. And that insignificant thing you may do for someone could have a vast change in the balance of their lives without you even knowing it occurred.
Eddie's five people consist of The Blue Man who is part of the sideshow at the amusement park; his Army captain; his wife who had died shortly after they were married; the wife of the original owner of Ruby Pier; and a young Filipino girl. Each of these people have been touched by Eddie in some way, or he has been touched by them. Each explains how knowing him changed their lives. It wasn't always in a good way. It once more reinforced to me how critically important it is to communicate with people we love how important they are to us and our lives. It is much easier to say I love you to someone in person than it is to stand over their grave and wonder if we had communicated that love.
What I really liked was the way director Lloyd Kramer divided the different segments of the film through the use of color to indicate which era were we dealing with: black & white for past, blue for present, and orange for Heaven.
There are many layers of complexity to this film as all the stories entwine and we move through many different areas of time. The acting by the participants in this movie was actually quite good. Jon Voigt carried the part of Eddie with such character to make it believable. He certainly looked the part and made each scene he was in not exactly remarkable but very well done. Others in the film included Jeff Daniels as The Blue Man, Ellen Burstyn as Ruby; and Michael Imperioli as the Army captain.
Written by Mitch Albom it received 7 nominations. My only beef about the movie, and I've heard others say it as well, was the sound. We had to turn the TV all the way up to hear it and still missed some portions. Then there would be a sudden loud explosion of sound. All in all, it was rather unnerving. Not enough for me to watch it or watch it again.
This film leaves you with the belief that life certainly isn't just a series of random things that happen without purpose. For every action there is a reaction. Everything happens for a reason and as John Edward says "Communicate, appreciate, and validate" your feelings for the people around you while you can in this life.
A TV movie adapted from Mitch Albom's best-selling novel of the same name THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN stars Jon Voight MIDNIGHT COWBOY THE MANC...More at Family Video
On His 83rd Birthday, Eddie, A War Vet & A Maintenance Worker At, The Ruby Pier Amusement Park, Dies While Trying To Save A Girl, Who Is Sitting Under...More at HotMovieSale.com
From the author of the phenomenal #1 New York Times best seller comes the original screen adaptation of Mitch Albom s The Five People You Meet In Heav...More at Buy.com
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.