Ditto

We all have different ideas of what happens to us after we die. Some believe we go to heaven or hell, depending how good a person we were. Others believe there is simply nothing, so we must make the most out of life, since there is nothing beyond it.

The film 'Ghost', starring Demi Moore and the late Patrick Swayze, plays with that very idea. The plot is something that is not quite as unique as you'd like it, but even so, it has a lasting effect on anyone who watches it.

Some call it a romance, others horror, but to me, it is not the genre that matters. It is, quite simply, the number one subject that kept any decent moviegoer watching. It can make even the most cold hearted person feel rather different after watching it. I felt something deep within me the very first time I saw it. I was young, but I kept it in my head. I felt for Demi Moore, as she watched her lover die, as she skeptically met the spiritualist, Whoopi Goldberg, and talked to Sam, as she found out about Carl, her best friend, who had most evil intentions all along, as she danced with Sam from beyond the grave, and as she kissed him one last time before his soul left this world, finally at peace.

What makes this take so compelling and heartfelt, the melancholy of it all, is that it is what we all crave. He thought he stayed on earth because he loved her so intensely, but I don't believe it was that, because love is not power enough to keep us her. He had unfinished business, really. He was not ready to die, but he did anyway. He did not want to leave her, but he did anyway. He wanted to come back, but that couldn't happen.

The human soul is a mysterious thing, and this film captures the essence of it. What makes this film beautiful, and utterly remarkable, is this. He didn't want those things to happen, but they did, and he was powerless to stop it. He desperately hated seeing his love in that state, and would have given anything to make her happy once again. He couldn't leave her straight away.

And that's why he stayed. The film is not about him being murdered. It's about what happens after. What he does once it happens. It took him a while to truly accept he was dead, but eventually, he did. Life, in itself, is not about the bad situations in it. It's what you make of them, that counts. He was given the choice to stay, and look after her for a little while longer, as a gift. Yes, he was dead, he wasn't coming back to life. But at least, if his was gone, he managed to save hers.

I think the theme that has been weaved into Ghost is bad things happen, and there are bad people in the world who make them happen. But if you fight against them, make sacrifices, then eventually you will get what you want, and defeat them, even if it seems impossible. Hey, Patrick Swayze was dead, but still managed to have one last beautiful moment with her. Well two, really.

It may not be as you imagined it, but it will be good for someone else at least. And the bad people will be sorted out on their own. Everyone gets their just desserts sooner or later. Even the richest and most powerful of men can fall from the greatest heights to the lowest place. Just like poor Willis Lopez. This film is more than just a silly romance. It has something a lot of us want, a last chance to communicate with a passed soul. Another chance at anything, really. Alas, real life is much crueller than that. But don't worry. Sooner or later, we'll meet them again. However long it takes.