A Matter of Life and Death

A Matter of Life and Death is a film that was written, produced and directed by Michael Powell and Pressburger. It has been re-released in cinemas over the Christmas period. You are truly in for a treat if you have not seen it – it is, in every sense, a delightful film.

The film is about a British pilot i WWII, played by David Nevin. He is flying an air craft that has caught fire and is about to crash. As he falls to his death, he talks to an American woman over a wireless and they fall in love. He falls to the ground and, curiously, survives. He encounters the American woman and they forge a love affair. The film alternates between scenes in heaven – shot in black and white – and scenes in earth, which are shot in colour. We find that there is a glitch in the system and that he should really be in Heaven. A trial ensues in heaven, which tries to determine whether or not he should remain on Earth or returned to heaven. 

Stylistically, the film is astonishing. Despite being shot during war time austerity, it was an expensive film and it boasts some sublime sets. The editing is ingenious – Powell/Pressburger freeze the frame whenever an angel descends to Earth to communicate with Nevin. As with most films from the 40s, the colour is saturated. The scenes in Heaven are done grand, spectacular and have excellent attention to detail.

The politics of the film are intriguing, as the film was released when the Labour Party was elected with a landslide. Nevin at one point says that his politics are ‘conservative by nature, Labour by experience.’ Indeed, this was very much the mood of the time. Whilst socially and temperamentally very conservative, the country was enacting an ambitious and economically distributive program that would ‘take the shame out of need.’
Heaven has its own judicial system. The laws of heaven are broken for the first time, so that the individual can stay on Earth. The case is that Nevin loves the woman and has too much to live for. There is also a wonderful scene where Britain is defended as a bastion of individual rights and freedoms. The case is made against an American, who were fast becoming a world power. A sense of justice pervades the film because there is a sense that Nevin is a good citizen who will be a gift to the world. A scientific distrust of the divine is overturned and this is not really because the film is religious, it is really because, after the horrors of the war, a New Jerusalem will be built and anything is possible. 

There is some theology in the film, however it is hard to tell if it is really Christian. Plato and Aristotle are invoked. Plato claimed that there was a world of ideas that was more real than the Earthly world and that this world of ideas underpins this imperfect world. Aristotle tentatively suggested that the intellect might survive the human body. It is hard to tell if it really is a Christian heaven, as there is not much mention of Christ. It seems that it is a more Platonic heaven, as ideas are discussed and it seems to be founded on rational principles.
This really is a wonderful film. The 1940s were the high-point of British cinema, as it produced creative, stylistically daring and quintessentially British films. The Ealing Studios also produced a series of dazzling and inventive films. Mark Kermode recently asserted that this is the best British film ever made, which is not a controversial claim.