Hollywood and Heaven:
The Lovely Bones • in.Movies
December 15, 2009
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Moviegoers are curious to see how Peter Jackson, the filmmaker behind the fantastical The Lord of the Rings trilogy, depicts heaven in The Lovely Bones. Like his contemporaries Guillermo Del Toro and James Cameron who masterfully shape elaborate and visually stunning worlds in Pan's Labyrinth and Avatar, respectively, Jackson knows how to grab our collective imagination with bold colors, larger-than-life symbols and panoramic landscapes. To visit a Del Toro or Cameron or Jackson world is to step far away from planet Earth, at least for two hours and change.
But in this rendition of heaven, instead of veering off into a Jacksonian cosmos that stands as its own singular force, Jackson steps into the pages of The Lovely Bones, written by Alice Sebold, and shuttles us back and forth between her story, about a fourteen-year-old girl who is raped and murdered, and his visual imagery of the afterlife. The two comprise his movie, an adaptation of her novel as an ongoing challenge to stay connected to his CGI fantasy. The seesaw is a perplexing ride that makes you wonder whether Jackson's vivid imagination would have been better served if he'd had a different vehicle to showcase his artistry. Jackson's heaven, it seems, doesn't really need the story about the girl or her family or their tragedy. It could be rolled off, repackaged and represented in another fable that keeps the ride in that hyper world for the entire duration of the film.
As for his heaven, he depicts it with the requisite big, white, billowing clouds that tell us it's some kind of spectacular dream. Whether it's Bruce Almighty or Heaven Can Wait, that key bit of imagery remains. But The Lovely Bones is hardly comedic and what can pass for luminous and light symbolism in dramatic comedies has to sell itself as poignant and touching in this grueling tragedy. Whether it works or not may depend on which camp you come from.
Aside from the group of moviegoers who've read the book and the group that hasn't, two other sets of moviegoers will show up at the theaters to see heaven, those who've endured a measurable and tragic loss and those who haven't. The impact on each is bound to be different considering that what may be a suspension of disbelief for some in embracing Jackson's heaven may be familiar ground for those who survived the brutal loss of a loved one by escaping reality and finding some peace and solace in the very kind of world Jackson gives us. To that end, his film holds therapeutic value beyond measure and is a gift.
But for those who approach it from the other side, so to speak, heaven is still a place in Hollywood where Technicolor reigns supreme along with images of Warren Beatty and Morgan Freeman. And anyone can easily argue that heaven should be left alone because it's more vivid, promising, deep, mercurial and comforting when kept out of the public eye and left to individual interpretation. But how much fun would that be in terms of drawing us together? Envisioning the private and painting the imagination is what makes surreal filmmaking what it is with the filmmakers who dare to go there — a ride for enquiring minds that want to know what somebody else is thinking. And to that end, Jackson's heaven can join the ongoing and unknowable discussions about what really happens to us once we die.
The Lovely Bones Credits
Peter Jackson Director/Writer/Producer
Fran Walsh Writer
Philippa Boyens Writer
Alice Sebold (Novel)
Andrew Lesnie Cinematographer
Brian Eno Composer
Saoirse Ronan Susie Salmon
Stanley Tucci George Harvey
Mark Wahlberg Jack Salmon
Rachel Weisz Abigail Salmon
Susan Sarandon Grandma Lynn
Rose McIver Lindsey Salmon
Michael Imperioli Len Fenerman
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Photo Credit: Movie Night - Fernando de Sousa, Cinema, Victoria, Australia
