Director-writer Fawaz Al-Matrouk explores what happens when we die, and perhaps more importantly, what it means to be alive, in his science fiction short film Anwar. A young boy of eight years named Anwar (Leo Etemadi) is told by his mother, Mona (Kerry Bishé), that the time will soon come when he must choose whether to live a normal human lifespan or opt to take a treatment that replaces his human body with something more sturdy that can enable him to live forever.
At 18, Anwar (Saif Haj) follows the faith of his father, who chose to remain in his human body and die in the usual way. He accuses his mother of being an android. We are never told whether this is so, perhaps she’s more like a Blade Runner replicant. He seems fixated on the idea of a postmortem afterlife he calls “heaven.” We meet Anwar one last time at age 80 (Jay Abdo). He is living like a monk in a tree house. He watches the rockets arriving and leaving Earth. His mother is there, still young and vibrant, and offers him immortality one last time. What will he choose?
It has long been held that the brevity of human lives is what gives them meaning. This may be true, and it certainly forces aging humans to ponder the realities of mortality over time as we progress through phases of life. But to say that immortal life would have no value is myopic. The values would be different.
“…he must choose whether to live a normal human lifespan or opt for immortality technology…”
Al-Matrouk seems to be making a point here about deities, heaven, and hell, and it seems likely that anyone who believed in such would be hesitant to eject a mortal body out of fear of angering a dark and vengeful god. Anwar tells his mother he believes her soul went to hell when she changed her body. That’s some cave-man, sun-worshiper terror there. If one day we are able to move beyond the mortal coil, we will need to leave that superstitious fear behind.
Given that most religions paint a vague picture of a heavenly reward as an immortal afterlife, it seems counterintuitive to reject a specific, reliable form of immortality. On the other hand, the whole notion of immortality, whether spiritual or technological, is narcissistic. We have not evolved for eternity. I can’t imagine a 500-year-old person would be compassionate or giving. The big question posed by this film is whether we are ghosts driving a meat car in this life, or are we the collective self-awareness of that bio-electric machine? How much of our existence is formed by our corporeal framework? Given the driving forces of pleasure and pain, growth and aging, hormones and chemical neurotransmitters… what would a postmortem spiritual being be like without any of those things? Would it be recognizably you?
Wherever you come down on the ”soul or not, hell or not” question, Anwar is a beautifully made meditation on the subject, suitable for deep thought, and will perhaps spark an appreciation for your life as it is.
"…A meditation on what happens when we die, and perhaps more importantly, what it means to be alive"
