Film Review Fridays--Waking The Dead (2009)

photo courtesy of allmoviephoto.com

Every now and then, you will run across a film about love; one that does not sugarcoat love or smother you with it. Keith Gordon’s Waking The Dead is just that. It poses the question, “is love really enough,” but, with a psychological twist.

Trying to steer away from telling you too much, in the opening scene of Waking The Dead, Fielding Pierce (Billy Crudup) is watching a news broadcast and finds out the love of his life, Sarah Williams (Jennifer Connelly), has been killed in a car-bombing that targeted Chilean activists (she was tagging along with them). The question is, did Sarah really die? From this point on, the film flashes back and forth, during the 70s and 80s, giving us insight into their relationship; how they met, after her death, moments before she left with the activists, their relationship difficulties, their happy moments …We watch as Fielding tries coping with her death, which is turning him into a “mad man.” At a certain point, he thinks he sees her in a crowd, then he gets a phone call from her, then she appears at his house. Is this all real?? Is his mind playing tricks on him?? Is he really going “mad?”

Now, let me give you a little background on the characters. Fielding Pierce is a young, ambition law student, aspiring to become a politician. Sarah is an idealist, kind of a wanna-be activist; she’s lefter-than-left when it comes to her ideals. Both are strong-willed individuals with varying political views, powerful goals, and ideals of what’s right and wrong, which dramatically clash. This again, evokes the question, is love really enough? Does love conquer all?

That’s all I’m going to give you, now click "play."

My take? I really enjoyed this film. It was not the “run of the mill” love story about two people. It actually talks about LOVE in general. Scene by scene, the plot gets better. I think Billy Crudup did an excellent job, as well as Jennifer Connelly. I thought they played their characters perfect, in that they were believable.

GRADE: B-

Click here to watch the trailer or watch Waking The Dead in full-length, click play below.