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The faith film \u201cAfter Death\u201d enters a crowded field of testimonials about near-death experiences, a staple of YouTube videos and bookstores. This documentary convenes a supergroup of writers and survivors: from early expounders like the author Raymond Moody (widely credited with coining the term \u201cnear-death experience\u201d) and the cardiologist Michael Sabom, to such recent best-selling names as the pastor Don Piper (\u201c90 Minutes in Heaven\u201d) and a surgeon, Mary Neal (\u201cTo Heaven and Back\u201d).<\/p>\n
The members of the group recount their forays into the hereafter, illustrated with murky re-enactments of what brought them there: a car accident, an abdominal rupture, a near-drowning, a plane crash. There\u2019s the initial pretense of scientific objectivity, but it soon feels beside the point. These accounts crescendo naturally with redemptions and literal come-to-Jesus moments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
In the documentary, written and directed by Stephen Gray and co-directed by Chris Radtke, not much deviates from the usual tropes: People drift out of their bodies and journey into light, love, and new awareness (with PBS \u201cNova\u201d-style trippy imagery). That sounds transcendent, and reassuring, but the stories are rolled together in a hash of editing, and the speakers can be oddly low energy. One exception is Howard Storm, a professor-turned-minister who believes he was hustled not toward heaven but to the darkest reaches of hell.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Released on more than 2,000 screens by the studio behind the recent child trafficking movie \u201cSound of Freedom<\/a>\u201d \u2014 at a time when a majority of Americans say<\/a> near-death experiences are possible \u2014 this film also closes with a QR code to buy more tickets. But whether you believe these phenomena are spiritual journeys or visions created by the human mind (or both), the film loses its sense of epiphany in the lackluster jumble of its moviemaking.<\/p>\n After Death<\/strong>
Rated PG-13. Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes. In theaters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n