Waking the Dead

This is one of those films that you watch and contemplate later in your life. As far as losing someone you love, and how that effects every major decision you will ever make for the rest of your life, this film is the most realistic portrayal I have ever seen. Billy Crudup was meant to play Fielding in this movie. This movie is haunting and is just one of those little movies that falls through the cracks but is never forgotten. A stunning movie directing by none other than the director of A Midnight Clear, another terrific film. If you are reading this you should seek out this movie or just buy it online. I give Waking the Dead 9/10.

I have never commented on a movie before but after reading some of the reviews i feel obliged to say something.

anyone who disparages this movie simply doesn't get it and the reason they don't get it is because they don't understand what it means to have both noble aspirations for oneself and love for another based on respect for that person's character; in other words, they are unable to relate to the main characters. this movie strikes such a deep chord (for some of us) because it recognizes and speaks about the two single most important things in life - what we devote our lives to and who we devote our lives to. it is so emotionally powerful because it examines a case when these two passions come into conflict and must battle each other for supremacy. i can scarcely put my feelings for this movie into words because does a sublime job taking on the weightiest of subjects - fraught with emotional and moral complexities that most people simply cannot relate to.

if your reaction to this review is 'this guy is such an arrogant f*ck,' then skip this movie. otherwise prepare to make room on your top-5-movies-ever list.

I cannot recommend this film strongly enough. This story celebrates the timelessness of love without cynicism or irony. It portrays a relationship in all its many forms: moments of joy, frustration, passion, tenderness, tragedy, and even a bit of insanity. Fielding Pierce and Sarah Williams are the two politically-minded lovers. While they share very similar political goals, their means of achieving those goals are vastly different. Fielding is the ambitious golden boy, campaigning through the political machine in an effort to affect change by working within the established system. Sarah is the rebel outsider, who believes real change will never be accomplished within a corrupt system, leaving political revolution as the only alternative. The film never passes judgement on which is the nobler or the more effective method. Rather, it chooses to portray Fielding and Sarah as two people whose love for what they believe in is second only to the love they have for each other.

You'll have to choose sides in 'Waking The Dead'. Are you going to be an obedient politician or a liberal activist? Those opposing viewpoints cause a tug-of-war, with eternal love playing the ever-tightening knot in the middle. Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connelly are Fielding and Sarah; he the idealistic politician and she the faithful revolutionary. We know from the start that she dies via car bomb while raging against the machine. The movie's chronology is all over the place (which is occasionally confusing) and we see them when they're blissfully happy and otherwise. But after she's gone, the upstanding young man fears for his marbles after he starts to see & hear his dead lover everywhere. Is she actually alive or is he just too insane for public office?

Seeing ghosts is tricky. It can turn into unintentional humour without the proper direction. Director Keith Gordon doesn't pull it off as well as he should, but at least the heat between them seems real. Crudup and Connelly make a great romantic match. She's sandpaper to his block of wood, but she's also his conscience. The phrase "Jiminy Cricket" is actually used, and he succeeds politically only as he's failing emotionally. He clearly needs her whispering in his ear, even if he wouldn't agree with what she would have to say. It's clear that she wouldn't approve of what he's become and he knows it. So I guess that makes her the ghost of Jiminy Cricket too.

The movie would be a turd without strong performances. While no one in the supporting cast has lingered in my memory, the talented leads have. They're both good in almost everything they do, so I expected them to be an excellent duo here too. Connelly has since won an Oscar and Crudup probably will too. Some of Gordon's directorial choices undercut what his actors are doing. His style of editing and use of too many arty shots don't work. When the actors are already front row centre, the director should get out of their way.

What grabbed me about 'Waking The Dead' was that both Fielding and Sarah are trying to make the world a better giant rock. She's counterculture and he's as mainstream as it gets. Since the story boils down to politics versus religion, it's no wonder the film didn't find an audience. Most people have opinions on those matters, yet political correctness demands you not share them. But you ARE allowed to discuss love. The movie knows how to get that right...the ache, the irritation, the yearning, and the loss of true love.

Currently showing on cable this movie is sensational. A young want to be politician apparently loses the love of his life, and the film centres on that love and his grief. Rarely can such emotions have been more compellingly and brilliantly portrayed on film.It is thought provoking and often scary too. There is a superb screenplay and all the performers are excellent. Anyone who has every loved another will know that you see that love wherever you go; and the lead actor's portrayal of that emotion is at genius level.The most emotionally charged scene is at the restaurant of the election results are known, and I for one cannot recall any movie where a particular scene is so intensely sensitive or almost uncomfortably realistic.For quiet and justifiably restrained but wonderful adult entertainment, this is the best film I have seen in years. 10 out of 10.