I saw “Gates Of Heaven” Thursday night, and I must admit it was a bit odd. It started out as a documentary about pet cemeteries, and then the film suddenly goes into this woman sitting in the doorway to her home, and she talks about her life. Once that is over, viewers are taken to another family who still, today, own their pet cemetery.
After we talked about that hinge scene, it made a bit more sense. I was absolutely confused on the whole matter. She just kept talking about things that did not, at the time, seem related to the overall film whatsoever. Thing strangest thing during that scene was not what she was talking about, but all of the sounds that came out of nowhere. She spoke of buying her son a car, and suddenly there was the sound of screeching brakes. Up until that point there was almost completely quiet during the woman’s monologue. After the screeching noise, more noises could be heard. For instance, more cars driving by, birds chirping, kids yelling. Where did all of that come from? There was a “No Trespassing” sign shown immediately before the woman started speaking. To me, it seems as if there would not have been anyone else around or cars driving by with a sign like that.
I was sitting there thinking that those noises had been implanted into the movie. That could have been what Errol Morris did, but I don’t know. I’m not really sure what those sudden sounds coming from around the woman were all about.