Ghost, written by Bruce Joel Rubin - Seven out of 10

Ghost, written by Bruce Joel Rubin

Seven out of 10

If you reject upfront works about or with ghosts, you cannot say that the title of this motion picture has not warned you, but it needs to be underlined that this is not the usual fare, with horrible visitors from the netherworld, with serious, overflowing torrents of blood and slime.

On the contrary, although listed as drama, fantasy and romance, Ghost feels more like a light comedy, nominated for the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture – although this is more of an indication of how modest Oscar films can be – and winner two Academy Awards, for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Best Writing, the Golden Globe and BAFTA for the same Whoopi Goldberg.

Patrick Swayze is Sam Wheat aka the Ghost, while Demi Moore plays Molly Jensen, a sculptor who is in love with Sam, although the latter avoids to declare his feelings – up to a point Lord Cooper – except in stating something like likewise, which annoys, even angers the woman.

The couple finds an interesting, if desolate apartment, which they arrange with the help of their friend – we do not know otherwise for the first part of the feature – Carl Bruner, who works in the same company with Sam, who is in charge with some very large, important financial transactions.

Carl and his friend have a very outré, if not abusive, sense of humor, which may have been tolerated in 1990, when the film was made, but it might start some legal actions, if tried today, given that the two men speak in the company elevator about terrible diseases, which are very contagious, one transmits them by touch…

Then Carl touches the people around, who are evidently aghast and panicked at the thought that they may now have the illness that was described as implying rushes in the genital areas, very annoying, disgusting…

It might have announced the fact that Carl Bruner is a strange, rather peculiar figure, inclined to enjoy brutalizing others, if at this stage only figuratively, in a manner of a dark, offensive joke.

One night, Sam informs his friend that he is going to see a concert with his partner – which may prove to be crucial in the scheme of things – and when they walk back home, a thug that wants his wallet confronts them.

The hero fights back, even getting the upper hand in the struggle, but the assailant has a gun, which he uses to shoot Sam Wheat, who after an agony of a few minutes and in spite of the desperate efforts of his lover dies on the pavement, in the street.

At the hospital, we see the hero and a man who comes to talk to him about death, how those who have been shot tend to die in most cases, the difference between the good apparitions that take some and the ghastly figures that are waiting for the bad characters that expire.

He mentions the trouble of getting through doors and then disappears suddenly, inexplicably for a human being, but then he is a ghost, like the protagonist, who is scared when some medical staff approach fast with a stretcher that walks right…through him.

This is already one rather annoying aspect, not so much the idea of the Ghost, its behavior and mannerisms – for once you decide to watch this; you need to go along with the premise, otherwise what is the point. – but the way they are proposed.

When the stretcher, other things and people move through the Ghost, the movie makers have decided to present some bizarre images which look like arteries, the inside of a human body in trouble, perhaps even suffering from a seizure, with the contention that the spectre suffers at the collision…

Nevertheless, this soon becomes a crime story, for while lingering near the woman he loved, the Phantom is flabbergasted to see the man who had killed him enter the apartment, looking for something, just as Molly returns and not noticing the intruder, walks into her bedroom and starts to undress, in plain view of the killer who is smiling with desire on his ugly face.

The Spectre had discovered that the cat has an uneasy feeling around it; she feels the presence of the spirit and takes advantage, scaring the pet that flies in the face of the criminal and scratches him, making the thug leave, with the hero in the hot pursuit, through the subway and the streets.

Once he has the address, he meets with the crucial character – Oda Mae Brown aka Whoopi Goldberg, winner of multiple awards for this role – who turns this drama around, making it a comedy in which she argues a lot with the Ghost, scares the clients who use her services as a clairvoyant, has all sorts of phantoms searching for her, once her connection with Sam is established and presumably advertised in the other world and eventually has to make a huge donation, against her wishes, but advised by the protagonists.

Oda Mae walks to the apartment where Molly lives, transmits the messages that her late lover has for her, making them verisimilitudinous by mention things only he knows, like the photo taken when they were alone, the letters on green underwear, a sweater she had knitted and some more intimate aspects only the couple knew about.

However, when the police are informed of the name of the killer and the manner in which a fortuneteller came to tell the story, they dismiss all the story and present dossiers that show the criminal record of Oda Mae, how she had falsified documents, cheated and committed crimes.

The film is interesting, funny at times; romantic at others, but ultimately it is not one of the best you can see.