Review: ‘Near Death’

A near death experience, according to a popular search engine’s definition, is associated with impending or actual death, often involving feelings of peace, out of body sensations and life review. While most experiences are positive, there are some terrifying experiences as well.    

In Richard Somes’ film Near Death, the usual occurrences supposedly in an NDE are not present, nada on the bright lights, nay on the walking or traveling through a tunnel, nil on meeting of departed loved ones. All of these did not hapoen to Julia (Charlie Dizon), a woman who survives a near-death experience.

In this version of Near Death, on the silver screen, we see a haunting  and terrifying supernatural thriller that presents to us Julia and a journey to hell and back.

Death Follows Her

In Julia’s world, everything is pitch black, time seems to move slowly, and each corner and space of the dark carries and hides something sinister and deadly, more than ready to attack and get you. 

Somes’ presentation of a near death experience makes one remember the “Purgatario” and “Inferno” poems of Dante Aligheri, the Catholic concept of heaven and hell, who becomes a sinner and what constitutes one, and what a person must do to absolve himself or herself from sin, hopefully be forgiven and saved by God. This movie makes you question the beliefs and values you consider important. 

It also shows glaringly what happens to a person with mental health issues, that being in such a situation feels like being in a dark pit that zaps you of energy, the will to live and your inner light. Here, Dizon’s character convinces herself that the easiest way to get out of the hell she is living is to take the easy way out, suicide.

Somes does not pass judgment on people with mental health issues — he makes us see them, experience what they are going through, makes us identify with the people around them. This movie of his is a clever device so that we can have a more open mind and embracing heart to people who, on a daily basis, battle their mental and emotional demons. 

Fine acting

The atmosphere on screen — the old building that has seen better days, the cramped apartment, the creepy hallways, the dimness of the alleys, corners and roads, a church under construction — all of these add heaviness and a feeling that something bad or evil will happen to the characters in the movie.

Speaking of characters, Soliman Cruz and Lotlot de Leon, the way they make earth angels come alive for real, are two brightest examples of good actors. All De Leon does is stand in the room, sans any lines, just that expression and fear registered, Cruz’s his fatherly, protective presence and goodness radiate.

Then you have the heartfelt takes of Xyriel Manabat whose character is already tired of her sister’s “drama” and “guilt trips” and RK Bagatsing’s man cloak in mystery persona. One cannot grasp easily if he is a sincere friend or a deadly foe. 

And of course, the center of the Near Death universe, Charlie Dizon, gives all the feels and vulnerability to the troubled Julia.

With Dizon, a stare becomes a shout without the volume, a flicker of a cigarette is a cry for help, never going over the top for a character who’d rather hear demons than count her blessings to see the light.

Near Death is that kind of cinema that allows you to ponder, lets you weigh what is artifice and what is genuine, allows you to do a showdown with the man or woman they see, and the man and woman you talk to in front of the mirror and most of the times snaps back at you, and  makes you value what matters in this crazy planet we all live in.

Produced by Diamond Productions, CMB Films and RVS Studios, Near Death is showing on cinemas this 29 October.