What Dreams May Come

What Dreams May Come, is there a life after death? The movie What Dreams May Come gives a rather positive view on the afterlife. I think most of the ideas and views shown in the film are related to many of society's main beliefs pertaining to death and the afterlife, but the views are left broad enough so they can relate to any specific religion. Personally, I have no concrete belief concerning the afterlife, or whether or not if there even is life after death, but I can see why many people would agree with many of the films perspectives. The movie is shown through Robin William's character, Chris Nielson who's first personal encounter with death is when his two children, Marie and Ian both die in a car accident. Four years later he dies himself after being hit by a car. After the accident, he sees himself on the ground from an outside perspective. The next thing he knows, he is able to see himself lying in a hospital bed, and at the same time there is a very gentle voice talking to him asking him if he understands the things happening to him, but at this point Chris is still very confused. In an instant, Chris is at his own funeral where he begins to see his physical body appearing around him. According to the voice means he finally understands that he has passed on. He then wanders his house, and is reluctant to leave his distraught wife Annie. Next, a blurry figure appears, speaking with the same gentle voice. The figure comforts him and tells him it is time to leave and basically helps him grasp his death and travel to the next world. Afterwards, Chris is willing to leave, and he suddenly finds himself running down a dark tunnel towards a light, and then he appears in a colorful world resembling one of his wife's paintings of where their dream house is supposed to be. Here, he is reunited with his dog who had died earlier in the movie. Also, the blurry figure becomes clear and turns out to be his old doctor friend Albert, who later turns out to be Chris's son Ian just masking himself in the physical body of Albert. This form is chosen by his son because the doctor was one of the only people Chris had ever listened to while he was alive. Albert(Ian) basically helps him understand that he is dead and that people have a soul or an identity that lives on after the physical body has passed. He learns that there is a God, and he learns of this new realm, and how everything within it is left to his power of imagination. He is told that where they are is supposed to be Chris's version of heaven. He also learns that after death, you can choose to be reborn. Chris later meets his daughter, who has taken the physical form of an Asian girl Chris had found attractive when they were alive, and the daughter is living in a place that is supposed to be her version of heaven. The turning point in the movie is when Chris learns that his wife Annie, who he learns is his soul mate, has committed suicide. He is told that in this world, all those that kill themselves do not go where he is, but instead to more or less a hell. Albert (Ian) and Chris get a tracker, who is the real Albert, to go and find Annie. It turns out that Annie is living in her own self denial; she believes she is at fault for her two children's deaths, and she is cursed for eternity to believe this and to never know or understand that she herself is dead. Chris manages to save her by being willing to spend an eternity with her in hell. In the end the whole family is reunited and then Chris and Annie decide to be reincarnated. I do not know what happens when we die. In this, I mean I have had no experience such as a near death experience, or have any physical proof that there is or not an afterlife. It is possible for me to comprehend the possibility of an afterlife, and understand in some aspects why many people both believe there is and is not an afterlife. Most of the movie is probably accepted by many viewers because the majority of America's population believes there is a God. I'm also sure that many of these people probably liked the ideas in the movie because of the idea that heaven is what you make of it. I am also pretty sure that many of the same people believe that the true afterlife is not as shown in the movie. For me if there is any part of the movie I could possibly believe, it would have to be the first half of the movie, but I question the rest of the film. The beginning of What Dreams May Come is very believable because of the similarities many documented near death experiences (NDE). Raymond Moody talks about these near death experiences in his book Life after Life. According to Moody many of the NDE's follow a similar pattern. After the person is clinically dead, they usually hear a loud sound, often a ringing. They suddenly travel through a dark tunnel towards a light. Then they see themselves from an outside view. Afterwards they are met by a deceased friend, relative