The Life Before Her Eyes

The Life Before Her Eyes is adapted from a novel of the same title by Laura Kasischke and stars Uma Thurman, Evan Rachel Wood, and Eva Amurri.

Diana and Maureen are best friends coming of age in a small town when a fellow classmate comes to school with a gun and massacres untold numbers of students and teachers. What transpires leading up to that day, in the midst of the confrontation between the gunman and his victims, and in the aftermath of the tragedy is told from the perspective of one of the friends while she continues to deal with the effects of the tragedy during the fifteenth anniversary observance of the incident. Ultimately the viewer must question whether we are indeed witnessing one woman's long delayed emotional and mental breakdown in response to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of an extremely traumatic tragedy or are we witnessing something else entirely?

This movie is both haunting and disturbing; the cinematography captures beautiful imagery. It is also very mysterious and heavy with symbolism and metaphor. For long after you have viewed this film you will think about what really happened or didn't happen in that high school bathroom and what exactly the conclusion of the movie means. I know I had to puzzle it out for a couple hours before I figured out what happened and what the nature of the entire movie really is.

This movie is coming soon to the shelves of the DVD section in the Matthews Public Library, and I recommend you check it out the next time you visit the library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

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