This is a very well done movie that takes a very sensitive and personal spiritual part of one's life and delicately puts a spotlight on it without overdoing it. I enjoyed every minute of it and the cinematography and acting was very well done. I loved the scenery of beautiful Mt Shasta along with an excellent musical score.
It is a film that although not a masterpiece, has messages within it that are revealed more each time I watch it. I highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to see a change in today's movies especially in the spiritual genre of cinema or who just want to see positive movies for a change. It does however have places that left me a little wondering where it was fully taking me. But nonetheless - an enjoyable good film.
Obviously it is hard to create an uplifting film that shows the spiritual walk and delicate struggles in a woman's life without being preachy or explaining to the viewer what is being displayed and why the character feels a certain way in the scope of things in the spiritual arena of life. Dreams Awake manages to avoid that approach and lets us imagine it ourselves within ourselves (with some expected help along the way). Some viewers will completely miss the message by looking for an immediate dazzling of the senses or explanations of the events taking place. It is not preachy or spoon-fed in predetermined bite sized portions to keep us along, but it continues at speed by keeping us open to the imagination of its possibilities. Those who get the movie will understand what I mean as explained by the older, wiser character in the film.
In summary I suppose what most will find is that the answers require us to look within and not always keep us directed to what we are supposed to see or to by having someone stop and explain the phenomena around us. Some may not fully grasp that at first but hopefully come to realize it's not so bad to take a look inside at who we really are. In fact it's an initial step that is always necessary in any spiritual walk or belief system. I got it and maybe wished there was a little more when I first saw it. After seeing it more than once though I discovered there is in fact a lot more.
