Hamlet just happens to be my favorite Shakespeare play and within that quote is "what dreams may come" which is the title of a movie I watched recently on Netflix. That particular day was full of movie watching for me. It was my day off, I had nothing else to do, no one was around, so I watched at least five movies in a row. And they were all good! The best was What Dreams May Come starring Robin Williams.
The movie came out in 1998 and I had never heard of it before, which is too bad because it is wonderful. I was only seven when it came out so that's probably why I hadn't heard of it but I'm glad I have now seen it. It is imaginative, original, well acted, and it has Robin Williams. I love that guy! I had not seen one of his films in a while so it was refreshing. In this film he is both funny and serious, the best of both worlds I think.
Basically, the movie is about a man who goes to the afterlife after dying in a car crash. You could call it heaven but really it is whatever one wants it to be. For Chris Nielsen his heaven is a painting by his suffering wife. Everything in this afterlife world is made of paint! I found this fascinating! It looks so real and fun and I am impressed by the graphics of this movie. After his wife commits suicide she goes to hell because that is where suicides go. Chris Nielsen will not accept that and leaves his heaven to try and save his wife.
The way heaven and hell are portrayed is different from anything I've ever seen before. It was beautiful and that's how I would like to picture the afterlife from now on. The best part of this afterlife is that if people want to be reincarnated they can! Or if they want to stay in heaven, they can! How wonderful to think we could all choose that!
What Dreams May Come was shot mostly on Fuji Velvia film, which is quite rare, and is known for its vivid color reproduction. Filming for the hell scenes took place on the hull of the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany while is was at Mare Island in California. That same ship was later sunk to make an artificial reef in 2006.
The original prints of the film were lost in the back-lot fire at Universal Studios on June 1, 2008. That devastation led to a worldwide search for a copy and one was found in Europe.
The movie is based off a novel and the plot differs greatly. The novel is less about the love story and more scientific than fantastic. There are some major plot differences but I don't want to give anything important away in case you decide to watch this.
This movie is really fantastic. It is now one of my favorite films and I cannot wait to watch it again sometime. It completely changed how I think about heaven and hell. It doesn't matter if it's true or not because no one really knows what the afterlife will be like until we die and experience it for ourselves. If you're afraid of dying then you should definitely watch this movie because it makes it seem less scary.
So, give it try! It's streaming right now on Netflix and it's worth the watch. Check out my favorite scene below, when Chris decides to leave his wife Annie on earth and discovers his heaven. Enjoy!
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