DEFENDING YOUR LIFE

I thought it fairly obvious from its title what this film would be about. I was right… and at the same time so very wrong… and delightfully so! Defending Your Life is a topnotch flick released in 1991 that stars Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep. Brooks is also the writer and director.

Daniel Miller (Brooks) purchases a new car for his birthday and heads out into the traffic of Los Angeles. While temporarily distracted he ends up colliding with an oncoming bus. Cue the film’s credits, and the primary story commences! When we see him next, he’s being transported in a wheelchair to a tram where all the other passengers are dressed in the same white robe (tupa) he's now wearing. Soon he is being settled into his temporary accommodations in the Continental Hotel in Judgement City.

Turns out that Judgement City appears very much like Earth, thus eliminating any stress for the new arrivals. No gold cities, no pits of fire… just buildings and roads and perfect weather. Daniel discovers that over the next few days, his existence on Earth will be judged and it will be determined whether he will transition to further development or be sent back to Earth to try again to have a more successful journey. What makes this film very optimistic and witty is that the judgment everyone goes through has nothing to do with good/virtue or evil/sin. These things are not criteria for determining if one’s existence on Earth was successful or not. I won’t spoil things by giving away what the judgment process actually addresses, but I will say that it makes the film very thought-provoking, both when viewing it and when pondering it later.

Meryl Streep is sublime as Julia, another recently departed human who finds her judgment process much easier than Daniel. The two befriend each other and eventually begin to feel romantic feelings for each other. Rip Torn and Lee Grant are both wonderful as opposing characters, one defending, and the other judging Daniel’s previous time on Earth. There’s also an amusing cameo by Shirley MacLaine who plays a guide in the Pavilion of Past Lives that Daniel and Julia visit!

The story is evocative, and one can’t help but simply feel joyous and highly entertained while taking in this clever tale. Oh, and rest assured, being from the mind of Albert Brooks, the film is littered with clever and self-deprecating humor. The movie, like life in general, is both provocative and silly.