Essay: Albert Brooks – Defending Your Life

What is the criterion needed to determine an ideal and accurate image of the afterlife? A large number of people believe in heaven and hell, and of those who believe have some sort of image of the afterlife. Whether it involves flaming hell or a paradise called heaven, the images constructed of the afterlife cannot be proven correct or incorrect; however, there needs to be a shared common understanding of what the afterlife entails such as justice, punishment, and reward. For Albert Brooks, his image of the afterlife is reflected in the film, Defending Your Life. In the film, Brooks plays Daniel Miller, a successful executive who crashes into a bus. He awakens in a place called Judgment City, which resembles Los Angeles, California. In this Disneyland for the dead, everyone is cheerful, the food does not make a person gain weight, and the weather is always perfectly clear at seventy-four degrees. At this heavenly pit stop, people are given the opportunity to defend their actions during their most recent lifetime. The process of defending an individual’s life is set up similarly to an American courtroom, with a prosecutor, a defense attorney, and judges.
In a way, Judgement City is Daniel’s purgatory and he must prove his “worthiness” to go on to the next level in the afterlife. This is similar to Zachary Hayes’ idea of purgatory as a place where a soul is to be purified before going to heaven. Hayes’ main idea about eschatology incorporates anthropological hierarchy and hope which are represented in this film. For Karl Rahner’s viewpoint, Rahner stresses the need to look back to the past in order to make a choice for the future (244). This viewpoint is used in Brooks’ film as the basic storyline. Although Brooks’ vision may have flaws, it does help illustrate some ideas that Karl Rahner and Zachary Hayes agree with and encourage when thinking about eschatology.
In Karl Rahner’s article, Sacramentum Mundi, the afterlife is important to understand because a person has the freedom to choose to follow God by looking to the past while making a choice in the present which determines the future (244). Defending Your Life illustrates Rahner’s viewpoint in the scene where Daniel is in the courtroom watching images of his past life. The judges look to the past to make the decision in the present to determine Daniel’s future. The parallelism between this scene and Rahner’s viewpoint creates a strong distinct understanding that a person’s choices define their future and eternity.
Along with this, Judgement City takes on an important role. Although death has already happened, in Judgement City there is always hope for a person to overcome their fear by having the opportunity to go back to earth and live another reincarnated life. Even though this is a hopeful aspect, Rahner would most likely not take this image seriously.  However, Rahner might think this is could be used in explaining the distinction between the history of the end of the world and the resurrection event. For instance Rahner writes, “…the fact that the end has already come with the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Logos made flesh; the presence of this end as constituting the fact of the victorious mercy… the special character of time now still unfolding ‘after’ Christ; the persistent character of this period as a conflict, which necessarily becomes more intense as the time approaches” (245).
Though Rahner is writing about the Christ event, the character Daniel can be used as tool to explain Rahner’s ideology. For example, Daniel has died (Christ event) and wakes up in Judgement City (resurrection). While in Judgement City, Daniel must wait for what has not yet happened and this is the last day of being judged (second coming). As a result, time plays a crucial role in Daniel’s judgement and his time with Julia. Time is of the essence and this is reflected at the end of the film when Daniel makes the choice to run after Julia’s bus. With perfect timing, the judges see Daniel conquering his fear. This choice to follow allows Daniel to move on to the next level of the afterlife with Julia. Time plays a significant role in Rahner’s ideas about eschatology because individuals must look at the past times while in the present to look onward to future just like Daniel did in Judgement City.
Ultimately, time is significant in this film, but it appears anthropological aspects are significant too. According to Zachary Hayes in Visions of a Future: A Study of Christian Eschatology, “The anthropological shift that we have been tracing in eschatology in general, and in the theology of death in particular, becomes clear in the contemporary attempts to re-interpret the basic metaphors of purgation” (113). Essentially, Hayes is saying that purgatory acts as a level in hierarchal system in the afterlife similarly to how Judgement City is a level in Brooks’ film. Hayes would mostly likely view Judgement City as purgatory because Daniel goes through a period of growth by proving to be worthy of moving on to the next level with Julia. As a result, Brooks’ film illustrates purgatory because Daniel went through a period of purgation.
Also, the scene where Daniel visits Julia at her hotel is an excellent illustration of anthropological hierarchy in the afterlife. Daniel is discouraged when he discovers that Julia is staying at much grander hotel than where he is staying. In this scene, Daniel begins to wonder if the hotel assignment is a clue about how well person lived in their past life. Hayes would argue that individuals who made the choice not follow God would be in a lower status in the afterlife which would be hell. For Hayes, a person’s actions on earth echo in eternity. This is why Hayes would agree that this scene in Brooks’ film is a sound representation of hierarchy in the afterlife.
Another image Hayes would approve of in Brooks’ film is the idea of hope. Daniel’s attorney, Diamond, is usually presented in an upbeat manner and remains hopeful throughout the film. Despite the fact, Diamond is representing Daniel who only uses three percent of his brain and has already lived twenty unsuccessful lifetimes to try to overcome fear. The odds do not appear in Daniel’s favor when he is going against Judgement City’s toughest prosecutor. However, Diamond continues to argue and remain hopeful for Daniel. At the end of the film, Diamond shows the judges a clip of Daniel running after the bus for Julia which leads to the judges allowing Daniel to move on to the next level. This scene relates to how Hayes explains Jewish eschatological hope for the future. During times of oppression, the Jews hopefully looked to God. The Jews argued and fought on God’s behalf even though their situation did not appear favorable much like how Diamond does for Daniel’s situation. For Hayes, this image is helpful because it indirectly illustrates the eschatological hope of the event when God’s kingdom comes to make things new during a time that does not lie in the distant future; instead the future is at the door of humanity (45). In a way, Daniel’s eternal future is at the door of the courtroom.
To many viewers this film is about the afterlife, but really Daniel’s story is a message about this life. The film works so well because Brooks cloaks his heavier themes in satire and exercises a shrewd impatience with clichés. The movie is funny in a warm, fuzzy way, and it has a satisfactory ending. The best thing about the film is the notion of Judgment City itself.  It creates a sense that the afterlife is a place much like the earth because it is meant to comfort souls not scare them. Unfortunately, individuals still stick with images of angels playing harps, which worked well for Renaissance painters, but it is difficult to place the modern world in this scheme. Brooks brilliantly morphs these images to look like lawyers and CEOs. It is likely that scholars, such as Hayes and Rahner, would not agree with Brooks about the afterlife not having a hell and the idea of a person being reincarnated in order to overcome fear. Despite these differences, Hayes and Rahner would agree and appreciate Brooks’ film because its images and illustrations can be used to explain eschatological concepts in a way that engages the modern world.