Defending your Life

Summary

Defending Your Life was one of the best dramatic ideas that ever came on screen in the 90's. Brooks has well managed to demonstrate his typical humour sense. Brooks has played remarkably well both behind and in front of the camera. This screenplay of Brooks is extremely genuine and good humour, and some part of it has been directed towards an unusual form of love. He has done a fantastic work by creating a "courtroom comedy". The themes of the film have been kept simple and short, and have brilliant performances from talented stars such as Rip Torn and Meryl Steep, who bring together to the story a good sense of fantasy. Brooks has controlled the audience's attention the entire time, right from the start until the very end. The film has such a close to reality feeling that every person who sees it thinks that this is their own life. The character that Brook has played is of no superhero who'll save planet Earth, no playboy who gets every woman whom he wants and nor is he a genius person and uses his brain just the same amount average human uses. He is just that the common man we all are. Like all of us, he believes in making lawful fortune, enjoys solitude, and the character makes me feels like he's perfectly me, you or us.

It happens to be Daniel Miller's 39th birthday, and a newly bought BMW has just come to his life. He rams it into a bus, and the next place he wakes up in is someplace else. The place is neither Heaven nor Hell, but a city that's called “The Judgment City”. The urban area has tall glass structures, and everything in the surroundings is as orderly, as if it was developed by the US government itself. Miller has been roomed at a simple and clean place where he is still having doubts about his location and stage of life. Miller is wearing a white gown and is told about his freedom on eating anything he wants, which is not going to get charged for and gets you no weight increases as it is totally calorie free. Daniel's amusement is soon brought to an end by the staffs, who tell him that the Judgment City is a dead soul's afterlife experience. He now gets to meet his Mr. Diamond (his lawyer Rip Torn) and Leena Foster (his prosecutor Lee Grant). Diamond is compelled to save his client from all the allegations, but Mr. Miller's position is weak, whereas Lee Grant is trying his level best to make sure to prevent that from happening. In the courtroom, they see flashbacks of Daniel's life and Daniel tries to explain himself.

From here the real Defending your life begins. Miller will soon appear in front of the George & Lillian (Judges of Daniel). The theme is exactly like that of an American courtroom, and Daniel is going to find it hard to answer some ...