Rama’s SCREEN

This movie is part drama, part thriller. Let me put it this way, it has some elements from The Sixth Sense but with its own version. It’s challenging to write a review on this one without spoiling the twist ending or too much of its secrets, unless you’ve already read the book that… the movie is based on. THE LIFE BEFORE HER EYES is a touching story about survivors’ guilt. It will keep you guessing til the very end.

Young Diana is best friends with her conservative classmate. She struggles to find herself by experimenting with sex, drugs, and the usual adolescent stuff. Old Diana struggles with making sure that her life is based on making good decisions and that she won’t have to repeat or pay for past mistakes. Somehow somewhere along the line, things are too good to be true.

Let’s start with Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood as the younger Uma.
They both give captivating convincing look into the harsh world of teenagers stuck in a small town with uptight parents that are never there and dangerous fun as the only getaway.
Uma Thurman give her best performance yet. She shows us why she was once an Oscar nominee.
Her ability to give the character a soul when it tries to find one is remarkable.

I used to wonder why the title is the way it is.
Now it’s clear to me that it’s about…. well, you know the old saying about how before you die, you’d see your life flashes before your eyes. Your childhood, your mom’s cooking, the good times and the bad times, joy and regret, all of them flashing briefly right before your eyes right before you take your final breath.
That’s how the old saying goes. Whether or not it’s true, luckily I have yet to have first hand experience to prove it for myself.

This story however, changes the perspective from something of the past…into the life in the future. The life that flashes before her eyes is what she imagines it will be years ahead. She wonders when life actually starts, well for her, it starts and ends briefly at her dying moment.
Who do I mean by ‘She’? Well you’re going to have to watch the movie to find out because I’m not going to spoil it for you.

I like how this movie seems to show us redemption and how the character is trying her best to show that she deserves a second chance, an opportunity to be better than when she was growing up.
It’s also a story about friendship, loyalty, and the search for love in all the wrong places.

* Place the cursor on the image below to check my grade for this film