A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH: Starved for Technicolor in Puerto Rico

By Linda Rodriguez

November 14th, 2017

On November 1st, 1946, A Matter of Life and Death premiered in London, England. It had been written, directed and produced by The Archers creative duo, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It was shot in Technicolor and the DP had been Jack Cardiff who in 2001 was awarded an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement as Master of Light and Color.

 

The film premiered at the Leicester Square Empire Theatre a short walk away from Piccadilly Circus. King George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth II’s parents, attended. It must have been a “full-dress affair” as Conductor 71 (Marius Goring) says of the heavenly trial that takes place during the course of A Matter of Life and Death. Conductor 71 is also the character that breaks the fourth wall to tell us: “One is starved for Technicolor up there.”

 

I would have liked to have been at that premiere, not only because A Matter of Life and Death has all the elements that add up to a movie classic, but also because it was presented to the public barely 14 months after the end of WWII. England, together with the USA and allies, had won, but London and many other cities in Great Britain had suffered devastation. Mountains of rubble must have been everywhere in sight, and nature itself must have suffered from the bomb blasts, fires, and catastrophic environmental pollution of war.

 

SEVENTY-ONE YEARS LATER

 

The day we met for our first film class after Hurricane Maria I chose to show A Matter of Life and Death to my students at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez. The category 4 superstorm had hit us on the morning of Wednesday, September 20. That day everything around us crumbled. The following 3 days and nights were a blur of torrential rain. And even the Caribbean Sea became dark with debris. All modern methods of communication failed. The isolation was terrible. If life in Puerto Rico is a natural Technicolor show, Hurricane Maria had shredded that. Under the gray skies, I wondered if life on Earth had ended.

 

In a way, life had ended as we knew it. We all struggled in our own way as forty days and dark nights passed. But slowly plants and trees began to bloom again and a fighting spirit emerged. Now “PUERTO RICO SE LEVANTA” signs can be seen everywhere and the island’s flag is defiantly flying not only from flag poles but also from car windows, pedestrian road crossings and even piragüero carts. We are down, but not beaten.

 

Amidst this fight, the University of Puerto Rico re-opened its doors to students. It was Monday, October 30, 2017. Two days short of the premiere of A Matter of Life and Death seventy-one years ago in London. My first class started at 4:30 P.M. The classroom where I teach had survived the storm and most equipments seemed to be working. As the students walked in, the classroom filled with nervousness, like meeting up with a friend you haven’t seen or spoken to in years. And we were all anxious because soon it would be night and the streets outside campus would become eerily dark as the island’s electrical grid is still mostly non-functional and even where there is electricity, most lampposts do not have working light bulbs.

 

Trying to calm everyone down (including myself), I walked around and welcomed my students back. After some talk about our present crisis, I said, “Let’s watch a movie!”

 

A Matter of Life and Death begins with a man in a plane falling out of control through a fog, the wind rushes through the cockpit, near him flames consume the wreck he sits in, and his only companion, a dead body. It’s hellish. The fact is the protagonist, Peter David Carter (David Niven) is ready to die. But before dying he wants to hear another human voice. He uses the radio equipment in the plane to call out. That’s when he connects with June (Kim Hunter). She is his last moment of joy, but he knows there is no way out, and being a poet he quotes Andrew Marvell: “But at my back I always hear, Time’s winged chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie, Deserts of vast eternity.” Then Peter gets on with it and jumps.

 

THE JOYS OF TECHNICOLOR

 

Showing A Matter of Life and Death was my way of getting on with it. Frankly, every person in that classroom is going through some turmoil, but we quickly recognized that our protagonist’s predicament was even worst. We were swept into the story. The mood in the room began to change. My students nervously giggled at June and Peter’s unusual falling in a love scene. And then, when the couple meets on the sands of eternity (an English beach without pebbles!) and kiss, well…. my students laughed with relief and approval.

 

As a writer, I know it must have been difficult to settle down to write the screenplay for A Matter of Life and Death a few months after the end of WWII. Without a doubt, it is a beautiful Technicolor film but it is also about making one’s way out of darkness, physical and emotional. As a unique celebration of life and love, this film has brought some joy and color back to a small group of us in Puerto Rico after the devastation of Hurricane Maria. And I am thankful for that!

 

If you’ve never watched A Matter of Life and Death (also known as Stairway to Heaven), I highly recommend checking out this amazing post-WWII film. Enjoy!

 

And on November 11 honor our veterans and remember our national guardsmen and women who are arduously working to help reconstruct Puerto Rico.