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Martin Scorsese, for one, is a great admirer of the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger; and for many years Powell was a kind of Dauphin or Merlin in his circle. Their films are typically British of that period, suffused with dream land, but also exercises in magic realism of which even Garcia Marquez would approve. The films rarely touch on law but centrally do in A Matter of Life and Death (1946) starring the quintessential English gentleman Mr David Niven in his greatest film (though perhaps not performance).
Niven is WW2 pilot Squadron Leader Peter Carter, who flies a burning Lancaster bomber while persuading his crew to bail out over the English Channel. Fully expecting to die, he desperately talks to a radio operator, June (Kim Hunter), with whom he later meets in person and falls in love. Due to an error by fictious Heaven death register Conductor 71 (Marius Goring), Carter manages to walk away – a life saved. His survival, however, is characterised as a ‘slip rule’ administrative error, and Heaven sets out to reclaim his life. Trying to avoid celestial deportation, Carter demands an appeal which is duly granted by the Court of Heaven. With three days to prepare his case he can select his defence counsel from all the people who have ever died. Who to choose? In the event, Carter selects Frank Reeves (Roger Livesey), the Good Samaritan doctor who has just sacrificed his life in the course of trying to save him. Well, cognitive bias par excellence.
Before the trial process in the skies begins, there is a kind a hallucinatory change of colour from colour to sepia. The prosecutor is an American, Abraham Farlan (Raymond Massey), an early casualty in the War of Independence whose anti-British prejudices are also reflected in the jury. The jury composition is challenged by Reeves, the jury is changed and becomes multicultural, representing, in effect, Anglo American decency. Reeves argues that his client has, during the extra time on earth accidentally afforded to him, fallen in love and that this new commitment supersedes Heaven’s claim on him.
Spoiler alert: Carter is victorious. Just as the stern Chief Recorder (Joan Maude) disapproves of the post-trial banter, Carter awakes from a difficult and successful brain operation. It was all a dream...
The film’s romanticism was intended to raise spirits as WW2 neared its end but its themes are timeless. Often described as ‘life-affirming’, it also raises for lawyers the concept of a second chance, a life rebuilt or the opportunity to do same. As the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill weaves its way through the committee process, in this world of diminished and diminishing resources, questionable ethics, diagnostic errors and coercive behaviour, I am reminded that those entrusted with the passage of this Bill should take care to understand the intrinsic non-monetary value of human life and embrace the fundamental human rights concept of dignity. The value of human life is a question central to our age, not least to lawyers. Lord Sumption’s comments on policymakers’ cost-benefit analysis of terminal cancer patients’ lives were disgraceful in my view. Safeguards have to be built in whether by a High Court or experts – ideally the former. The US Supreme Court in Washington v Glucksberg (1997) and the UK House of Lords in Purdy [2009] emphasise the importance of safeguarding to protect the vulnerable and the legendary Japanese film The Ballad of Narayama (1958, Keisuke Kinoshita) is worth considering when a person’s sense of self-worth declines.
The overall message of Powell and Pressburger’s film is, I suppose, that we are all entitled to a happy and comfortable life subject to Old Mortality. Or, as the film argues: Nothing is stronger than the law in the universe but on earth nothing is stronger than love.
David Langwallner is a graduate of the Harvard Law School and the London School of Economics. He is a barrister at 1MCB and was 2015 Irish Lawyer of the Year for his work as director of the Irish Innocence Project.
Martin Scorsese, for one, is a great admirer of the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger; and for many years Powell was a kind of Dauphin or Merlin in his circle. Their films are typically British of that period, suffused with dream land, but also exercises in magic realism of which even Garcia Marquez would approve. The films rarely touch on law but centrally do in A Matter of Life and Death (1946) starring the quintessential English gentleman Mr David Niven in his greatest film (though perhaps not performance).
Niven is WW2 pilot Squadron Leader Peter Carter, who flies a burning Lancaster bomber while persuading his crew to bail out over the English Channel. Fully expecting to die, he desperately talks to a radio operator, June (Kim Hunter), with whom he later meets in person and falls in love. Due to an error by fictious Heaven death register Conductor 71 (Marius Goring), Carter manages to walk away – a life saved. His survival, however, is characterised as a ‘slip rule’ administrative error, and Heaven sets out to reclaim his life. Trying to avoid celestial deportation, Carter demands an appeal which is duly granted by the Court of Heaven. With three days to prepare his case he can select his defence counsel from all the people who have ever died. Who to choose? In the event, Carter selects Frank Reeves (Roger Livesey), the Good Samaritan doctor who has just sacrificed his life in the course of trying to save him. Well, cognitive bias par excellence.
Before the trial process in the skies begins, there is a kind a hallucinatory change of colour from colour to sepia. The prosecutor is an American, Abraham Farlan (Raymond Massey), an early casualty in the War of Independence whose anti-British prejudices are also reflected in the jury. The jury composition is challenged by Reeves, the jury is changed and becomes multicultural, representing, in effect, Anglo American decency. Reeves argues that his client has, during the extra time on earth accidentally afforded to him, fallen in love and that this new commitment supersedes Heaven’s claim on him.
Spoiler alert: Carter is victorious. Just as the stern Chief Recorder (Joan Maude) disapproves of the post-trial banter, Carter awakes from a difficult and successful brain operation. It was all a dream...
The film’s romanticism was intended to raise spirits as WW2 neared its end but its themes are timeless. Often described as ‘life-affirming’, it also raises for lawyers the concept of a second chance, a life rebuilt or the opportunity to do same. As the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill weaves its way through the committee process, in this world of diminished and diminishing resources, questionable ethics, diagnostic errors and coercive behaviour, I am reminded that those entrusted with the passage of this Bill should take care to understand the intrinsic non-monetary value of human life and embrace the fundamental human rights concept of dignity. The value of human life is a question central to our age, not least to lawyers. Lord Sumption’s comments on policymakers’ cost-benefit analysis of terminal cancer patients’ lives were disgraceful in my view. Safeguards have to be built in whether by a High Court or experts – ideally the former. The US Supreme Court in Washington v Glucksberg (1997) and the UK House of Lords in Purdy [2009] emphasise the importance of safeguarding to protect the vulnerable and the legendary Japanese film The Ballad of Narayama (1958, Keisuke Kinoshita) is worth considering when a person’s sense of self-worth declines.
The overall message of Powell and Pressburger’s film is, I suppose, that we are all entitled to a happy and comfortable life subject to Old Mortality. Or, as the film argues: Nothing is stronger than the law in the universe but on earth nothing is stronger than love.
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