Flatliners

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Flatliners
Theatrical Release Poster
Directed by	Joel Schumacher
Produced by	Michael Douglas Rick Bieber
Written by	Peter Filardi
Starring	Kiefer Sutherland Julia Roberts Kevin Bacon William Baldwin Oliver Platt
Music by	Lincoln Chase James Newton Howard David A. Stewart
Cinematography	Jan de Bont
Editing by	Robert Brown
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	August 10, 1990
Running time	111 min
Country	United States
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Flatliners is a 1990 movie starring Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin and Oliver Platt as medical students experimenting with near-death experiences.

1 Plot
2 Scientific accuracy
3 Cast
4 References in Popular Culture
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Plot

The movie opens with a shot of medical student Nelson (Kiefer Sutherland) saying "Today is a good day to die." The movie then shows what he means, as he convinces four of his classmates to help him conduct a dangerous experiment. Nelson wishes to experience clinical death for a period of 1 minute before being brought back to life by emergency measures, saying he wants to see if there is anything beyond death.

All four are understandably apprehensive, but after much disagreement and re-deciding the experiment goes off as planned, and Nelson is "flatlined". Visions of what he "sees" are interspersed on-screen with the attempts to bring him back. Despite some difficulty they are able to successfully resuscitate him. Describing later what he felt he says, "You can't break it down into specifics. But there is something there. It's comforting."

The success of Nelson's experiment prompts the others to do the same, each for their own reasons. Joe (William Baldwin) goes next, looking for little more than fame, and agrees that there is post-death activity. David (Kevin Bacon) then argues that as the atheist he should go next, since he is the experiment's control. After he experiences things that he cannot ascribe to his previous scientific viewpoint Rachel (Julia Roberts) insists on being the next one.

Almost immediately after each experiment, however, the participants start experiencing strange phenomena. Nelson sees a dog and little boy, who quickly moves from not just appearing before him but stalking and assaulting him. Joe, an out-of-control playboy despite being engaged, starts seeing in television monitors visions of women who, without their knowledge, he videotaped while having sex with them. On a subway train David suddenly sees a little girl, who calls his name, insults him with schoolyard taunts, and then disappears. Unlike Nelson and Joe who stay silent about what is happening to them, David convinces the others to abort Rachel's experiment, which they do after an electrical short almost stops them from bringing her back.

David then explains what happened: he remembers the little girl Winnie Hicks from as someone he bullied in school. This prompts Joe to speak up about his experiences. David then prods Nelson to do the same, and he identifies his assailant as Billy Mahoney (Joshua Rudoy), a kid he used to pick on. But it's his description of the injuries to his face that gets the attention of fifth team member Randal Steckel (Oliver Platt), as that cannot be mere hallucination. Randy says that's impossible, but Nelson argues that they have experienced death and are in unchartered territory. "Somehow we brought our sins back physically ... and they're pissed." David leads the others in chastising Nelson for not speaking up sooner, as that equated to an unethical withholding of findings.

The team then moves to dealing with what they've unleashed. Joe fares poorly: after getting surrounded by ghosts of women using the same vacuous pickup lines on him that he has used on them, he finds in his apartment his fiancée Anne (Hope Davis), who reveals that while there she found his videotapes, and she is thus leaving him not for cheating on her, but for so cruelly violating the trust of so many women. Rachel is being haunted by visions of her father, who committed suicide when she was 4. Nelson tries to meet Billy Mahoney head-on, only to be beaten down again.

David, trying a different approach, finds where Winnie Hicks is living in the present and, accompanied by Nelson, drives out to her to ask for forgiveness. She first tries to suppress it, then reveals that she's tried to move past that, and doesn't appreciate David coming out to reopen those wounds. David continues trying, but realizing that he's now just making it worse leaves. Before he does, Winnie calls to him, and with a tear in her eye says "Thank you." While this is happening Billy Mahoney attacks Nelson, who was waiting in the car. When David arrives all he sees is Nelson alone on the floor struggling, and he snaps a terrified Nelson out of it.

By the time Nelson and David get back to town Rachel, who saw another vision of her father in class, reveals what is happening, thanking Nelson for the "nightmare". An argument between the five ensue, with David finally calming everyone down, taking care of Rachel himself and telling Joe and Randy to help Nelson find Billy Mahoney.

While David tries unsuccessfully to console Rachel, with the two of them eventually making love off-screen, Nelson takes Randy and Joe to a cemetery. He explains through a flashback that he accidentally killed him while bullying him in school. Nelson at first is angry, screaming at the tombstone "I thought I paid my dues!". Then he says David's right and that he can still make amends, and he runs off alone in the car. David gets the call from a stranded Joe and Randy and rushes out to pick them up, and they figure out what Nelson is probably going to do. Meanwhile Rachel, now alone, finally confronts her father and sees the truth of what happened when she was a child: though she blamed herself all these years for his death, he was actually addicted to heroin. They have a tearful reconciliation.

Nelson then calls Rachel saying that he's sorry he get anyone involved in this, and that he's going under one last time: suicide, since he's flatlining by himself. He runs to where they held the experiments, injects himself with potassium, and dies. They all show up slightly after and try to resuscitate him to no avail. Meanwhile in the afterworld we see first a young, then old Nelson switching places with Billy Mahoney, being killed as Billy was (knocked out of a tree). Finally after twelve minutes the team gives up and lets Nelson go.

While talking over Nelson's dead body Rachel says that she heard on the phone that Nelson thought he deserved to die. David angrily disagrees, saying he was just a child who made a mistake. He takes the defibrillators to Nelson again, and in the afterworld we see Nelson suddenly get up and be confronted by a now smiling Billy. He waves goodbye and walks off into the light as Nelson, hearing voices calling him, runs the other way. Back on the table they have successfully brought him back. He whispers in David's ear "It wasn't such a good day to die", and thanks them.

[edit] Scientific accuracy

The film's depiction of cardiopulmonary resuscitation is commonly regarded as inaccurate. While defibrillation is of no use if a patient has truly flatlined, it is possible for a patient to be in what is known as a "fine v-fib" rhythm, and still be revived with use of paddles.^[1].