It has been a long time since I have felt so moved by a film as I was while watching The Hours. Only Far From Heaven came close in 2002, and The Hours had a much more powerful and emotional impact on me. The film is eerie, disturbing, exhilarating, unsettling, totally engrossing and is also brilliantly written, photographed, scored, acted and directed.

The Hours tells the interlocking story of three women in different decades. Nicole Kidman plays Virginia Woolf in the 1920s, Julianne Moore plays a woman in the 1950s whose life is unraveling as she reads Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway, and Meryl Streep plays a modern-day woman whose life is deeply affected by both of the other two women. The device that connects their lives is so beautifully and brilliantly conceived and executed that I don't want to say anything more about the plot here.

Nicole Kidman's performance is hauntingly brilliant and definitively marks her evolution from being considered a beautiful woman who

can act to being one of the most accomplished and powerful actresses in film today. Through the use of prosthetic makeup, Kidman is almost unrecognizable as she inhabits the soul of the tortured Virginia Woolf. Although Kidman is on-screen for only a few scenes, the depth, pathos and heartache that she brings to her character are, for me, comparable to Diane Lane's career performance in Unfaithful and Julianne Moore's performance in Far From Heaven. Moore is wonderful in another 1950s portrayal in The Hours, and Streep is her usual extraordinary self – as is the entire cast. Both Stephen Dillane as Woolf's husband and Ed Harris as Streep's dear friend give performances worthy of Academy Award recognition. The film is directed with great style and intelligence by Stephen Daldry, and Philip Glass has composed one of the most memorable and achingly beautiful film scores since The Piano.

As Spiritual Cinema, it completed for me the trilogy in 2002's holiday season that celebrated both the ascension of feminine energy and our evolution from the male Age of Pisces into the female Age of Aquarius. Old paradigms die hard, but die they do – and this new Aquarian Age is indeed dawning despite so much evidence to the contrary in the so-called “mainstream” world. While I can't really elaborate without divulging more of The Hours than is appropriate here, the internal structure of the progressive attitudes of all three women in the film up through the decades reflect this amazing evolution as well. When Streep appears in the penultimate scene to merely turn off some lights in her apartment, we have a sense that a major transformation has taken place.

As the title of The Hours refers, in part, to the time we spend in reflection after the occurrence of a particular event in our lives, so has this film fascinated and affected me. As it is a complex film that may stir emotions and musings within you, it is a great movie to see with other members of your Spiritual Cinema Community.
The Hours is a deeply moving, emotionally challenging and often brooding film that may very well unsettle some viewers. With all that in mind, I heartily recommend it to you as a film for adults who are in the mood for an absorbing and haunting literary evening.

The Hours CHAKRA RATING
Chakra: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Rating: 5 5 4 5 5 5 5

Total Chakra points: 34 out of a possible 35.
Please visit www.Movingmessagesmedia.com to read an explanation of the Chakra Rating System.

Stephen Simon has produced such films as Somewhere in Time and What Dreams May Come. His book The Force is with You: Mystical Movie Messages That Inspire Our Lives has been published by Walsch Books/Hampton Roads. For more information, and for Stephen's tour schedule, you are invited to visit www.Movingmessagesmedia.com.

A Spiritual Cinema Community has been formed in Cleveland! Spiritual Cinema Communities meet regularly to watch movies of the spiritual genre as identified in the Mystical Movie Alerts. Gatherings include open discussion, sharing of viewpoints and life experiences, and a whole lot of fun. For information contact Greg Liber at (216) 521-4685 or by email at gregliber@yahoo.com.

For information on starting a Spiritual Cinema Community in your area contact Celeste Pichette, International Spiritual Cinema Community Coordinator at (313) 225-4102 or by e-mail at Celeste@movingmessagesmedia.com.