Shuswap Film Society: Nine Days reflects on what it means to be alive

By Joanne Sargent

Contributor

Imagine undergoing a pre-birth selection process to determine your worthiness for life on Earth, and imagine the responsibility of deciding which soul deserves the privilege of life.

This is the highly original and imaginative concept of Edson Oda’s film Nine Days, in which Will, the “soul gatekeeper,” has to make the determination of which souls will be born.

Will has experienced life on Earth and takes his job of selecting souls very seriously. He watches with pride his previous selections on a bank of monitors, experiencing their ups and downs like a deeply involved parent. When a young woman Will ushered into the world suddenly dies, it throws him into an emotional tailspin and he starts to second-guess himself. But he must go ahead with the process to select a replacement soul.

Will begins the nine days of interviews and test scenarios of the unborn souls to determine which candidate is best suited to survive in a chaotic and unpredictable world. His job is to tweak humanity in the right direction by selecting good souls who are tough enough to handle life. Of his current slate of candidates, Emma is different and confounds him by presenting challenging questions in return, not conforming just for a chance on Earth, and Will is forced to re-evaluate what he thinks he knows about what it takes to head into life.

Nine Days is a film experience unlike anything seen or imagined before. Reviewer Dan Buffa called it “emotional, wondrous and far-reaching.” It’s a reflection on what it means to be alive, to enjoy every sensation and to see the beauty in the tiniest details of life.

Nine Days, presented by Shuswap Film Society, plays the Salmar Classic on Saturday, Oct. 23 at 5 and 7:30 p.m. Vaccine passports required.

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