The movie never comes out saying she is dead and the theme of the movie is precisely based on the point— was she ever 'alive'? The mortician tells her she is dead and she maintains she is alive for she is breathing. The difference is the meaning that they give the word live. For Anna, the young woman surviving is living and the mortician tells her that is not what life is.
The mortician tells Anna life is much more than breathing, eating, and basic hygiene. And tells Anna she probably died many years before. Anna and the mortician continue to argue over the issue. The point being made is they both use the same words with different meaning.
The writer wants to know how many are truly alive and not just surviving? The young woman Anna is dead but was she always dead? The movie really never makes this clear, possibly trying to show the way many go through life.
We make efforts to survive as does all of life. Surviving is keeping away from death. The opposite from living. Isaiah tells us: "The living are the ones who praise you..." Isaiah 38:19. How many of us are living"
Gloria enim Dei vivens homo, vita autem hominis Visio Dei. (For the glory of God is the living man, and the life of man is the vision of God). This phrase is often mistranslated into: The "Glory of God is a man fully alive". This is somewhat different from what is meant for living fully in the minds of many is to live on the edge, to experience all, to climb the highest mountain...
"For the glory of God is a living human being, and the life of the human consists in beholding God. For if the manifestation of God which is made by means of creation, affords life to all living in the earth, much more does the revelation of the Father which comes through the Word, give life to those who see God" (St. Irenaeus Against Heresies).
In the Scriptures we do hear about living life fully: "Jesus came that they have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). Luke 6:38 "Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap..." (Luke 6:38).
Receiving the Eucharist daily for many should be a sure sign of the life that we should be living. We have been called to participate in the life of God which we hear at each Mass we attend: "By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity." Do we need any other words to express what we have been called to be and do with our lives?
