A Matter of Life and Death (known in the U.S as Stairway to Heaven) was directed, produced and written by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. This partnership was known as The Archers and they created 24 films in total.
I am one of the most interesting things I found was the colour change going from afterlife to real life. In the afterlife everything was black and white, whereas in the real-life world things were coloured. I found this quite contrasting to The Wizard of Oz (1939) where the fantasy world was coloured in comparison to the black and white real world. There are a couple of reasons why think they may have made the after life black and white in A Matter of Life and Death. Firstly, I think it could be because their mindsets were not as flexible as they have a very black and white view on life; you either belong there or here. In contrast by having the real world in colour shows how love complicates and relates to every part of life. It is almost what makes life worth living. Another thing that I thought the colour change could be was to reflect that the black-and-white place was not somewhere that the main character wanted to go, he wanted to stay in the colour, he wanted to be living still as he was not ready to die. To a lot a people the belief in a afterlife acts as a comfort particularly at this time when so many had died in the war, but by highlighting life in such a way it reminds everyone to be grateful that they are alive and that many have died so we can live.
In the after-world and life the women were in charge which I just found fascinating. At the time you just had World War II and the women had taken charge of what was happening back home while the men were off at war. To have them in charge of the afterlife, I found quite an interesting choice to see them amongst men and still be in power.
Sources:
Info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura
Image: https://letterboxd.com/film/a-matter-of-life-and-death/
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