Waking the Dead (2000)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Keith Gordon

Writers (WGA):

Scott Spencer (novel)
Robert Dillon (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 March 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Sometimes love has a life of its own.

Plot:

A congressional candidate questions his sanity after seeing the love of his life, presumed dead, suddenly emerge.

Plot Keywords:

Social Activism | Human Rights | Refugee | Obsessed With The Dead | 1970s

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Billy Crudup	...	Fielding Pierce
Jennifer Connelly	...	Sarah Williams
Molly Parker	...	Juliet Beck
Janet McTeer	...	Caroline Pierce
Paul Hipp	...	Danny Pierce
Sandra Oh	...	Kim
Hal Holbrook	...	Isaac Green
Nelson Landrieu	...	Francisco Higgens
Ivonne Coll	...	Gisela Higgens
Lawrence Dane	...	Governor Kinosis
Ed Harris	...	Jerry Charmichael
Larry Marshall	...	Angelo Bertelli
Stanley Anderson	...	Fielding's Father
Patricia Gage	...	Fielding's Mother
John Carroll Lynch	...	Father Mileski

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality and language.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Australia:M | Iceland:12 | Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | France:U | South Korea:18 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Company:

Egg Pictures

Trivia:

Jennifer Connelly's son, Kai was in the film, she was holding him in the scene in which Fielding was at the church.

Goofs:

Factual errors: 23 January 1983, the election day, was on a Sunday.

Quotes:

Sarah Williams: You have to love me too. Not an image, not an idea. And not in spite of who I am.

Movie Connections:

References Vertigo (1958)

Soundtrack:

A Case of You

A picture of true beauty

I cannot recommend this film strongly enough. This story celebrates the timelessness of love without cynicism or irony. It portrays a relationship in all its many forms: moments of joy, frustration, passion, tenderness, tragedy, and even a bit of insanity. Fielding Pierce and Sarah Williams are the two politically-minded lovers. While they share very similar political goals, their means of achieving those goals are vastly different. Fielding is the ambitious golden boy, campaigning through the political machine in an effort to affect change by working within the established system. Sarah is the rebel outsider, who believes real change will never be accomplished within a corrupt system, leaving political revolution as the only alternative. The film never passes judgement on which is the nobler or the more effective method. Rather, it chooses to portray Fielding and Sarah as two people whose love for what they believe in is second only to the love they have for each other.