At
least one major film each year of late has been devoted to
the subject of death. In almost every case, the aim has been
to soften the blow. Young adults are learning to respect the
elderly as never before while the average age of Americans
increases, but coping with death seems difficult for all.
In Meet Joe Black, Billionaire Bill Parrish
(played by Anthony Hopkins), on the eve of his 65th birthday,
wakes up one morning in the realization that his death is
near, but he is in denial. He helicopters from his Poughkeepsie
estate (actually filmed in Rhode Island) to work in Manhattan
past preparations for a gala celebration of his birthday.
While en route, he tells his daughter Susan (played by Claire
Forlani) that he is troubled by her lack of enthusiasm for
her nerd fiancé Drew (played by Jake Weber); she should find
someone with whom she can be passionate and vice versa, he
says, or she will have missed the most important emotion in
life. When she stops for breakfast at a coffeeshop, she meets
a young, handsome attorney with whom she has a conversation
that so impresses her that she is swept off her feet, but
she has to go to work as a resident at a nearby hospital,
and he has arrived from out of town to take up residence in
an apartment. After they leave the coffeeshop, they turn around
to look at each other, but each time the other’s back is turned.
Finally, the man turns around, a truck runs into him, and
he dies. While at work, Bill has chest pains, but they stop
as he begins to converse with a voice that tries to tell him
again that his death is near. That evening the family dines
together, a rare event. Bill again hears a voice, asks a maid
to admit a man at the door revealed by the voice, and Bill
leaves the dinner table to go to the library to meet the visitor.
The visitor in time identifies himself as Death (played by
Brat Pitt). Death, who has taken the body of the young attorney,
offers a deal to Bill: Provide some interesting diversion
(a vacation of sorts), tell no one that he is Death, and Bill’s
life can be extended. Bill accepts the deal, introduces him
to his family as Joe Black at the dinner table, and Susan
sees the same body as the attorney who dazzled her earlier
in the day. Joe announces that he will be staying at the estate,
astonishing the family. After dinner, Joe visits the kitchen
and the pool. Susan is swimming, and the two converse. She
soon realizes that he has changed but is still fascinated.
The next day Bill Parrish begins to reflect on his life and
legacy. At a meeting of the Board of Directors of Parrish
Communications, Bill stuns the directors by saying that he
has reversed a decision not to allow bottom-line-oriented
Bonticue Corporation to buy out his business. He surprises
his secretary by asking her to summon the family for another
dinner together that night. Later, he remembers how his wife
Joan used to make cold lamb sandwiches for him. Still wanting
to think about his life, he asks Joe to take a tour of the
city. Joe then visits the hospital where Susan works, fascinating
her with his quiet, spiritual charm, especially when he communicates
in Creole and tries to bring comfort to a Black woman (played
by Lois Kelly-Miller) who recognizes that he is Death as she
is admitted as a patient. That evening, while the family dines
together again. Bill wants to give a farewell address but
demurs. Joe then asks Susan about the status of the Creole
woman, and thereafter Drew and Susan have words. Joe sees
the altercation, comforts Susan, and they almost kiss. The
next day, Joe encounters Susan at an indoor swimming pool,
presumably at the offices of Parrish Communications, and Susan
initiates sensual lovemaking; though Joe is less passionate,
Susan does not mind. In the evening, Bill sees the two kiss,
again at her instigation, and later in private with Joe erupts
with anger over the dalliance. Bill then realizes that the
only way to protect Susan from an inevitable disappointment
is to agree to die. Joe accepts Bill’s decision, but only
after his 65th birthday party. Joe, however, has fallen in
love with Susan and wants to take her, too, so Bill tries
to dissuade Joe from doing so, thus supplying the major tension
of the film, which has a happy ending. The film’s tagline
is "No one can die--while he loves!" Meet Joe Black,
directed by Martin Brest, is a screen adaptation of the Alberto
Casella’s 1920s play Death Takes a Holiday, which was
made into a move in 1934. The film tries to say is that we
all might die any day, at a time that we will not choose,
so rather than passively existing in the meantime, we should
carefully determine our priorities, rejecting materialism,
and pursue what our heart really wants. Only then will we
be truly happy and not fear death. MH
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