An aspiring politician (Billy Crudup) falls in love with an activist (Jennifer Connelly) in "Waking the Dead" from 2001, directed by Keith Gordon and adapted from the eponymous novel by Robert Dillon.When Fielding Pierce meets his brother's assistant Sarah in 1972, the two fall in love with one another. It's a deep, emotional love. But they have different ideologies. Fielding has political ambitions; Sarah is idealist who spends her time helping others. She is killed in an explosion while helping members of the Chilean resistance.Nine years later, a Fielding is running for the Senate, he starts seeing Sarah everywhere and can't get her out of his mind. It affects his campaign work, to the consternation of those trying to get him elected.This is a movie that's almost painful to watch, because Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connelly pour such passion and emotion into their love affair, that you feel his pain when she's gone. They're both excellent -- and very young here.There are some old-timers in the cast as well - Hal Holbrook and Bernard Behrens, to name two, but also the excellent stage actors Janet McTeer and Larry Marshall. Ed Harris has a small role as someone on television. "House of Cards" actress Molly Parker plays Crudup's current girlfriend, though he doesn't really love her. I think the love story was the most compelling element of this film - though these two people want to do good in the world, they approach it in different ways, and that separates them.One of the last scenes is deliberately ambiguous when it really shouldn't be -- if you look at the message board you will see a description of a deleted scene and what is in the book.It's a lovely story.One other thing - a lot of people did not like Sarah. I find that so interesting - every time I watch a film featuring a female activist, everybody hates her. I watched "The Constant Gardener" and had to listen to everyone hating on Rachel Weisz. Ditto "The Whistleblower." Go figure. Too left-wing? Too goody two-shoes? I don't know. But people sure have a strong reaction.

Haha. Yeah, that's right, the summary is says it all. I was amazed when I came onto this page to see that its rating was so low. When I saw this movie a couple months ago I absolutely loved it. I thought it was incredible. To people that have made comments that Crudup's acting was poor or flat, I would say that nothing is farther from the truth. This movie made me believe in him as an actor. Perhaps it's just me, but the degree to which I identify with his character is almost scary. Especially given the context of the movie and his descent into madness.This movie was incredibly powerful and perfectly describes my own moral dilemmas when it comes to interacting with politics. Do you use the system in order to bring about change, or do you reject the system because it is rife with corruption and unable to be saved? Not only that, but it's treatments of grief and doubt, shame and responsibility, and the hopes and horrors of insanity are all extremely complex and interesting. The characters are deep and intriguing, the dialog is engaging, and the direction superb.A wonderful movie.

(There are Spoilers) Trying to put his long deceased lover Sarah Williams, Jenniffer Connelly, out of his mind up and coming Chicago politician Fielding Pierce, Billy Crudup, is hunted by her throughout the movie "Walking the Dead" as if Sarah was his guilty consciences.Sarah had been killed in a car bombing some ten year's earlier in her being involved with an organization that protest the conditions in Chile. Being the very idealistic and headstrong young woman that she was Sarah put her life on the line for the downtrodden and underprivileged Chilean peasants that lead to her untimely murder. It was Sarah's selfless actions that sparred Fielding to see her way of thinking. But that only happened after Fielding almost blew his election, for Congressman, which and at the same time had him find his long lost and troubled soul.Trying to cover all the bases, as well as his a**, in his future in politics Fielding played it safe in the Vietnam War by becoming a commissioned officer in the US Coast Guard where being sent to fight in Vietman was practically an impossibility. The very politically ambitious Fielding also played ball with the state and local Chicago big wigs from the governor and mayor on down in order to get himself a plumb job in the city's D.A's office which was to serve as a springboard for his future political ventures. While all this was happening his girlfriend Sarah became more and more distanced from him. Sarah felt that the get to the top at all cost Fielding is just a political climber who's concern from the public, mostly the poor and disenfranchised, was only to get their vote and nothing else.It was Sarah's sudden death that put Fielding's career on hold and took the poor guy some ten years to get over it. Now back in action running for a seat in the US Congress Fielding disregarded all that Sarah taught him about serving, in and out of politics, those who needed his help most. As if coming back from the dead Sarah started making ghostly or real live appearances, where only Fielding can see her, in an effort to spook Fielding by making him more of a feeling and caring human being. The question is if Sarah is actually alive, and faked her death, or only an illusion in Fielding's unbalanced mind! Which may be due to his guilt ridden conscious or the result of a combination of sleep deprivation and prescription drugs, as well as alcohol, in his non-stop 24 hour around the clock campaign to get himself elected?***SPOILER ALERT*** The movie makes it's point in a very confusing way where we in the audience as well as the confused and befuddled Fielding don't really know if the supposed long dead Sarah Williams is really alive or the product of Fielding very fertile imagination. Fielding's last encounter with the ghostly Sarah at the end of the movie gets his head back on together in helping the poor infirmed and financially destroyed in his district to get back on their feet. We'll never know,like Fielding, if in fact it was Sarah in the flesh or conjured up from deep inside his subconscious that got Fielding to do the right thing! But whatever the reasons were, real or imagined, it worked!

I have seldom seen a film that has moved me so and stayed within me long after I have seen it as Waking the Dead. Keith Gordon was a good actor, but it is as director that he has really developed his talent. This excellent drama is the best proof of that. Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connelly are marvelously matched as the tragic couple who are divided by their political views and also religion. Crudup plays Fielding, a Protestant middle-class boy who is a naval officer and has political aspirations. Connelly is Sarah, a Catholic girl who is a radical leftist activist. Her unabashed anti-conservative views clash with those of Fielding and his associates and threaten to destroy their relationship. Still it survives, because their love is too strong to be destroyed. It all comes to a sudden end when Sarah is killed by a car bomb while in Chile, trying to help the imprisoned anti-Pinochet activists. Fielding is devastated by his loss and buries himself in his political career.The ending is open to several interpretations. Is it Sarah's ghost that he sees or has she somehow gone unharmed and come back in flesh? This is what makes this film so good. It is a roller-coaster of emotions, an emotional odyssey that Fielding goes through. And I think it raises one important question-can one go back to his old self even after so many things have changed? It is as much about inner confrontation as a love story that transcends time. Billy Crudup is outstanding here and he makes this film work. This film would be wasted with a weaker actor in the leading role, I believe. Same goes for Jennifer Connelly and her role. They have an awesome chemistry which makes them so believable as a love couple. Ed Harris also makes an appearance here, although it is very short unfortunately. Other actors make a fine supporting cast and I especially enjoyed Fielding's interaction with his father, it was important for the whole story and the film.This is about giving up the ghost, accepting the truth that the one you loved is gone from your life and can never return. This is what the ending is about really. That and keeping that love inside you.