The Novel Is Remarkable, and the Film Is Exceptional

924 Words2 Pages

“I forgive you, Dad.” (Movie) On the movie screen the tearful Eddie, with his trembling voice, is wholeheartedly trying to reach out to his father inside the Diner in Heaven. It is the moment that Eddie’s sentimental reflection turns into an emotional eruption. At that moment Eddie’s tears almost wet my face. That is just one of stunning visual effects I felt while watching the film, “The Five People You Meet in Heaven.” The film, directed by Lloyd Kramer, is based on the book with the same title, written by Mitch Albom. In terms of plot, general theme, and setting, they are all projected in similar ways both in the book and the movie, such as chronological order of the five people Eddie meets in Heaven, use of flashbacks, and Ruby Pier entertainment park as the central stage. By appearance, both in the book and the movie, Eddie and the five people are naturally the major focus. However, I believe that the relationship between Eddie and his father is specially fabricated by the director and the author with the intention of making the story more complex and captivating. On top of that, I find that Eddie’s father, portrayed as a controversial character throughout the book and all over the film, is really worth further reviewing and discussion. More specifically, I would like to analyze the similarities and differences vividly perceived between the novel and the movie in various ways of portraying the father.

In the same scheme, both in the movie and the book, the father is presented as abusive and alcoholic on many occasions. In words, the book gives a detailed account of the damages inflicted on Eddie by his father’s violence: “he went through his younger years whacked, lashed, and beaten.” (Albom 105) In the film, t...

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...ets in Heaven. In the story, the father’s “tough love” sometimes is very ugly indeed, but the “tough love” is still not the thing of anachronism in the real world. Overall, I feel that the adaptation illustrates a high fidelity to its inspiration, and the book gives the readers more details and the time to ponder while the movie gives the audience direct visual impression and easier storyline to adhere to. The both versions of “The Five People You Meet in Heave,” the novel and the movie, are mutually enriched, beneficial, and supplementary to each other, and are ultimately the quintessence of masterpieces selected carefully by our amiable professor, Tracy Virgil.

Works Cited

Albom, Mitch. The Five People You Meet in Heaven. New York: Hyperion, 2003.

Print.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Dr. Lloyd Kramer. Hallmark Entertainment, 2004.

DVD.

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