What Dreams May Come

[Hans Deventer]

Saw this movie last night, again, that is. It still moves me. It is the story of man, played by Robin Williams, who lost his two children in a car accident and gets killed by a car himself 4 years later. He ends up in heaven, which is a place that looks like his wife had once painted as their dream place to retire. He is told that this is how it works: you create your own part of heaven.

Being there, he learns his wife, who was already devastated after her children had died but had slowly recovered, couldn't deal with this second blow and committed suicide. So she ends up in hell, which, as the movie has it, is, like heaven, a place that people create for themselves. The man decides to go and look for her and try to get her out, despite the advice that such a thing has never happened before.

In a way it is a love story, about the all conquering power of love. That is played out very well.

I can live with the image of heaven and hell as displayed in the movie, though it might not be to every one's liking. God is referred to, but is other than that absent in the movie. I regret the last few minutes of the movie that deal with reincarnation. Other than that, I really like this story of love because I do believe love remains, for God is love.

There is no nudity or violence (the option of violence is only suggested at one point) and I don't recall any profanity. But of course the images of hell are quite depressing.

The movie won an Academy Award for Best Effects / Visual Effects in 1999

[Terri Knoll]

I have to have this movie! I am a major Robin Williams fan! and this sounds like something I would love to see. thanx

[Hans Deventer]

I have to have this movie! I am a major Robin Williams fan! and this sounds like something I would love to see. thanx

I don't think you will be disappointed, Terri, keeping in mind what I wrote about the movie.

[Gina Stevenson]

I have to have this movie! I am a major Robin Williams fan! and this sounds like something I would love to see. thanx

One I always remember him for was "Patch Adams." 'Think that was the name, anyway, where he was an unconventional doctor. The most depressing one, I think, was "Dead Poet's Society." And then there was "Mrs. Doubtfire" ... I wanted to rewrite the ending there. ;)

[Jill Mickelson]

Gina....I am a fan of Robin Williams too. He's a gifted man. I pray for his salvation! I agree with you about Mrs. Doubtfire....the ending was very depressing and disappointing. Though it does portray "real" life. I wanted to rewrite the ending too!
Hans...thanks for sharing this review. I've only seen part of that movie. I do want to see the entire movie now, after reading your review. Whoever wrote this story was using great imagination. I didn't think it was Biblical when I saw the bits and pieces of the movie. Though....I am being reminded of the very popular song: "I Can Only Imagine...." Recent months, the LORD has been teaching me about Heaven....

[Hans Deventer]

Hans...thanks for sharing this review. I've only seen part of that movie. I do want to see the entire movie now, after reading your review. Whoever wrote this story was using great imagination. I didn't think it was Biblical when I saw the bits and pieces of the movie. Though....I am being reminded of the very popular song: "I Can Only Imagine...." Recent months, the LORD has been teaching me about Heaven....

Jill, we don't really know what heaven will be like. Though I presume that God, being as creative as He is, will surely allow room for the creativity in his people. To what extent, I don't know, but I can imagine Him enjoying what we will create there. So that notion, which features heavily in the movie, is something that at least does not contradict the Bible and at best, proceeds from an idea that might not be so far from the truth.

The second idea, that both heaven and hell are totally related to our own minds, is something I can imagine as well. It has been said often that people that end up in heaven, will feel like heaven had already started on this earth, and the same way with hell. I just would have loved to see in the movie that heaven is because of our relation with God, but that isn't there.

So it is a movie to watch with discernment, but I think there is enough good stuff to enjoy it.

[Jill Mickelson]

Thanks Hans! The Lord has been teaching me about Heaven and Hell. NOT something I was delving into. Reading the Bible about Heaven and Hell keeps me "satisfied". One day last summer, Chuck Swindoll spoke on death/dying and near death experiences. What an eye-opener but also a topic that has touched me through the years in different ways. I've had encounters with people who have had this experience (Near Death Experiences), in the past. I wasn't sure what to think about the stories/their experiences.

Since that time when I heard Chuck Swindoll speak, I read "90 Minutes in Heaven" about the author's death and time in Heaven. Since that time, I have been having people tell me about their near-death experiences! Not something I am looking for. Though, I have been keeping a record of those experiences.

For the past year or so I have been reading The New Living Translation of the Bible. Heaven and Hell seems to jump off the pages as I read this translation of the Bible! Nowadays I have more of a burden for the lost....thinking of them burning in Hell for eternity. (Praying even more for the lost and sharing Jesus with them.) At the same time, I have talked with a lady who has cancer. Terminal. We talked about Heaven and how wonderful it will be. How thrilling it is to have the LORD teach me about new things. I am trusting Him for whatever reason He has in leading me down this path at this time.

[Marilyn Lawson]

If you liked the movie (like I did) you should read the book.

Both are fasinating.

It kinda opens your eyes to posibilities and really makes you think how far true love will go for that special person in your life.

Enjoy.

Marilyn

[Hans Deventer]

Today it just crossed my mind that the image of one coming down from heaven to seek and save one who is stuck in hell with no way to save herself, is quite a Christian concept. Though in the movie it is the love between a man and a woman, I don't think it is too far a stretch to see in it the love of Christ who came down from heaven to save us, entangled in our darkness and sin.