" A Matter of Life & Death" *** (out of ****)
They say "love" is a powerful force. For it, there are those who would scale the heights of the Heavens or the depths of Hell to retrieve it. "A Matter of Life & Death" (1946) is a film which holds this to be literally true.
I have been re-watching the work of British filmmaker Michael Powell and his Hungarian screenwriter Emeric Pressburger, believed by many to be the most successful writer/director team in Britain during the 1940s and 50s. Some their films I am seeing for the first time however. But surprisingly, nothing has really been able to strike as much as the first film I saw by this team, "A Matter of Life & Death", though released in America as "Stairway to Heaven" (I wasn't sure which title to use).
I knew I had to review something by this team but the problem I have with them is while they are a critically successful team, filmmaker Martin Scorsese raves about them, they never really meant a lot to me. I can clearly see the craft which goes into their films. They are well made. But their films feel too mechanical for me. The style is there but no heart. I never become emotionally overwhelmed watching their films. The closet I have come is when I watched "The Red Shoes" (1948), some say one of the greatest films ever made. But I simply didn't feel like reviewing that movie. The only other gripping film they have made is their WW2 propaganda film "49th Parallel" (1941). That film I gave serious consideration to reviewing, especially since I only recently reviewed another British WW2 propaganda film, "In Which We Serve" (1942). But I settled on "A Matter of Life & Death".
This film doesn't have the dramatic depths which "The Red Shoes" or "49th Parallel" has. But, I think I like it more, or equally as much as those other two. I think the real is because I'm more sentimental about the story. It is more old-fashion. It also has some sly humor and interesting political ideas. I would suggest watching "The Life & Death of Colonel Blimp" (1943), "49th Parallel" and this movie together. "Colonel Blimp" is about the British war culture, "Parallel" is an attack on isolationism, citing the war can follow you where ever you are, and this movie has a bit of an anti-war feel to it. "A Matter of Life & Death" could have been the response to "Colonel Blimp".
David Niven stars as Peter Carter, a British pilot who has radio-ed his tower, a woman named June (Kim Hunter) answers. His plane is about to go down. His crew has upped out of the plane, by his orders, and one has died. He has no parachute and has decided he too will jump rather than burn to flames. June is horrified. There is nothing she can do at this moment except provide some comfort to Peter and hear his story. He wants her to write a letter to his mother and sisters. And so Peter jumps from his plane.
But Peter doesn't die. He landed in the Ocean, where he was rescued and brought to shore, while he was passed out. When he awakes he assumes he is in Heaven and looks around for a place to "check in". But as fate would have it, he has landed near the home of June. Now they are together and claim to be in love.
Though there is a problem. You see, in the "other world" (the word Heaven is never used), Peter was on their list. His time was suppose to be up. Peter has cheated death. What happened was, because of the British fog, death was unable to find Peter and left without him. So the grim reaper, here a Frenchman called Conductor 71 (Marius Goring), is sent back to Earth to collect his soul. Peter will not go and demands an appeal in court to defend his life. He is in love now and wants to live. The Conductor has never heard of just a thing and must go back to the other world and report.
When Peter tells June of all of this, she informs her friend, a doctor, Frank Reeves (Roger Livesey). He agrees to meet Peter and instantly figures out with is wrong with Peter. He tells Peter he should come stay with him so he can run some test and so Peter can tell him when the Conductor arrives again.
I've always thought Peter suffered from Survivor's guilt. His entire crew died and he was sure he was going to die. Why didn't he? It is a question he asks himself repeatedly. But the film plays around with the idea of whether or not what is happening to Peter is real or not. Is Peter going insane?
Events further develop when Peter learns he will in fact have his day in court. He has the right to chose any person, as long as they are died already, to defend him. The prosecutor with be Abraham Farlan (Raymond Massey) the first American to die by a British bullet during the Revolutionary War.
And here we get to the film's political message. After WW2 relations between Britain and America were strained. Much of Europe felt the Americans waited too long to join the war, especially the British, whom admittedly suffered greatly during the war. But by the war's end, the question was which nation would be the super power. Would Britain stand side by side with America? President Truman's Secretary of State, Dean Gooderham Acheson had this to say; "of course a unique relation exist between Britain and America, our common language and history ensure that. But unique did not mean affectionate. We had fought England as an enemy as often as we had fought by her side as an ally."
One moment during the court scene as Abraham informing an audience that each member of the jury has been the subject of Britain's vast empire. From America to India. The British empire has had its hand everywhere. This is the reason Peter and June could never be together or really in love. They come from two different cultures. This is what Peter must prove to the court if he is to get his life back. That he does love June.
Jean-Luc Godard once said "in order to criticize a movie, you have to make another movie." I don't think Powell and Pressburger wanted to criticize any other movies, but you can compare this movie to a host of others. There is of course the legend of Orpheus, which was made into a wonderful film by Jean Cocteau in 1950. You have "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" (1941). And at one point in the film the Conductor asks Peter if he likes to play chess. Did that trigger something in Ingmar Bergman and give us "The Seventh Seal" (1958)? And what about Ernst Lubitsch's "Heaven Can Wait" (1943)? All of these films deal with either someone cheating death, death following them, or people going to Heaven or Hell for the love of their life. It would be hard for me to believe none of these films impacted one another.
The only problem I have with "A Matter of Life & Death" is it never feels very romantic. Those weren't the moments I remember best. I remember the humor of the court room scenes. We don't really feel these two people are truly in love. The screenplay doesn't fully explore that aspect. It spends greater time on the political ideas.
But there is much to enjoy about the film. The creativity of the idea. The visuals and production designs. The sheer fantastic-ness of the situation. It creates a world where anything can happen. And ask the question, can love over come everything?
Even though I'm not the biggest fan of Powell and Pressburger, you should see their movies. They have had an influence on several filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese. Watching their films you will true a true craftsman at work. Now if only their films had a little more heart, they'd really have something.
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