GHOST

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 2 out of 5

Because of: occult themes, sexual content, foul language

Rated:

Admittedly I've never been much of a fan of ghost stories, but there's something about this one that manages to hit just about all the right notes. Ghost is more a mystery than a romance, although it has plenty of heart-tugging and touchingly romantic moments between the leads. Filmed beautifully and without treading too deeply on the occult, it makes for a fun evening's watch for one fully prepared for the brief sexual content and foul language.

Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze) seems to have it all together. Handsome, accomplished, wealthy, and full of great ideas, he's just the sort of guy you'd love to hang around with. But things are starting to change in his life, because he's met Molly Jenson (Demi Moore), the girl who has won over his heart. She wants marriage. He's just trying to adjust to living together while balancing his job and friends at the bank. They've purchased a new apartment downtown and with her artistic talent made it a masterpiece. But this glass house in which they live is about to be shattered forever. One evening after seeing Macbeth at the local theater they're accosted and mugged on the street by an unknown thug. In the struggle, the gun goes off and the man flees down the street with Sam in hot pursuit. But when he turns back, he sees his own bloodstained body lying limply in Molly's trembling arms.

Suddenly he has not the ability to be understood, seen, or touched; he can walk through walls and pass through bodies. He is, in fact, dead, killed by a botched mugging. Dejected and confused, he follows Molly home and watches his death devastate her life. Even his former best friend Carl (Tony Goldwyn) cannot break the spell of sorrow entwining her heart. One afternoon, his worst nightmare comes true... the mugger returns, this time in the light of day, only to search through Molly's things, looking for something.

When Molly returns early from her walk, there's nothing Sam can do to alert her to the danger upstairs... except scare the cat. The mugger flees and Sam follows him downtown, where he learns the man plans to return at the insistence of his boss. Not entirely knowing what to do, Sam wanders down the street and for kicks goes into a psychic's shop where Oda Mae Brown, the local con, is cheating people out of their money. Here's the kick... Oda Mae is the only person on earth who can actually hear him! But she wants nothing to do with him.... and Molly is in danger! Can he convince her in time?

This film, although dealing with some serious subjects like the afterlife, death, repercussions for evil, and true love, manages to cater on the light side. Oda Mae is a humorous addition to break up the mood with a good giggle now and again. Her performance in Ghost gave her the Oscar, and it's not hard to see why. It's a humorous but deep role that fits her like a glove. The screenplay is also an intelligent and original piece of writing, well deserving the Oscar it received for Best Original Screenplay. The music is haunting, the characters likable, and the acting first rate. So then why am I left with mixed feelings? In the ability to view Ghost as mere entertainment and nothing deeper, I enjoyed the experience and it didn't grieve my soul as deeply as The Sixth Sense did. But it's always dangerous to make light of the supernatural world, particularly when dealing with psychics. 

Although Oda Mae is nothing more than a con, eventually she does gain the ability to hear real ghosts through her experience with Sam. She doesn't like it. Neither do I. One thing that bothered me in particular about her introductory scene is as she "calls up" a woman's dead husband, her sisters are thanking Jesus for her gift. Kind of an oxymoron, isn't it? Particularly when it says in the Bible "none among you should consult mediums" or attempt to contact the dead. I also had a problem with two occasions when she allowed different ghosts to inhibit her body and use her to speak to and touch their loved ones.

In the real world, that would be demonic possession; we're supposed to accept it as okay since, after all, it is only a "ghost story." Unfortunately there is also enough violence, sex, and foul language to put the skids on for many families. Jesus' name is casually tossed around more than a half dozen times, along with repetitive abuse of GDn. One f-word is also present. Within the first twenty minutes of film, we witness a particularly graphic love scene between Molly and Sam that involves sensual kissing, touching, and partial nudity. You can see it coming and hit the fast-forward button, but the violence is a bit more problematic. A man is shot and killed, another is slammed between two cars; his dead body flips up over the hood and lands on the pavement. Yet another is impaled with a broken window and blood spatters. Maybe they could get away with more in a PG13 rating in 1990, or maybe I've been somewhat sheltered where blood is concerned, but it seems a little strong.

Philosophically there are some great discussion starters in Ghost, particularly concerning the uses of darkness and light. When a "good" person is killed, they fade into a beautiful white light; but when an evil person dies, the shadows come forth into Ringwraith-like beings to consume them. C.S. Lewis wrote in his book The Great Divorce that he believed the world we lived in was like looking through a dirty window, and when we die, instead of becoming more transparent, the world itself seems opaque because of our sudden realness. I thank God that as Christians we don't have to wonder about the afterlife, but instead know that through the blood of Jesus Christ, we will spend eternity with Him.