Restart BP 26

          Thursday and Friday, my class watched the film What Dreams May Come. The movie tells the story of a man who searches for his wife in the afterlife after he is killed in a car accident and she commits suicide. In many ways, this movie has similar themes and follows many ideas that are much alike Dante's Inferno. However there were differences as well. One major difference is that in the film, the main character Chris Nielson is able to find his wife in the depths of hell and bring her back into heaven. Dante makes the point very clear that no man (except himself), can escape Satan's grasp in the underworld. Chris and his wife are also able to reincarnate onto earth to "restart" their lives. Dante follows strictly Christian virtues therefore does not say that reincarnation can happen. After looking past the differences, it is possible to find many similarites as well.

In Dante's Inferno Dante punishes each person depending on their sins. In What Dreams May Come, Chris's wife is put in her own personal hell because she committed suicide; also a major sin in Inferno. Also on the topic of suicide, a tree is shown directly before the suicide of the wife. Dante describes the punishment of people who commit suicide as being turned into a tree and being pecked at by harpies for eternity. Another similarity is that both Dante and Chris are led by a guide to navigate the underworld. These guides are people who both Chris and Dante admire and even look up to. In Chris's case, his son, daughter, and former professor all help him get through his transition from life to death. For Dante, Virgil leads him through Hell. Virgil is the only person in all of Inferno who Dante puts above himself besides Beatrice. In Conclusion, What Dreams May Come and Dante's Inferno have many things in common as well as many contradictory subjects. Both make similar points with very different stories.