aka Stairway to Heaven
Plot synopsis
Peter, a WWII pilot, bails out of his plane without a chute into the English Channel. He should have died but gets washed up on a beach because the ‘collector’ (a type of angel) missed him in the fog.
When the angel catches up with him, Peter refuses to go to the other side, as he has fallen in love with an American girl. They have several conversations over a period of days.
Whenever the ‘collector’ arrives from heaven to speak to Peter, time is temporarily frozen all around them on Earth. People become statues until the ‘collector’ has finished his conversation and leaves.
Finally, Peter agrees to attend a celestial trial to ask for an extension to his life on earth.
My comments
During Peter’s conversations with the collector, time freezes for those around him, but he continues to age. So, when time unfreezes, he travels back in time to when the freezing began, which is technically time travel.
The film reviews of Clockstoppers (2002), Cashback (2006) and Lost Horizon (1937) discuss similar concepts of time slowing down or stopping.
Summary of time travel
During the ‘timeout’ Peter is able to discuss his situation with the angel and make better decisions than he would have if time had not frozen. So, when he goes back in time to the beginning of the timeout and makes different decisions, this causes the timeline to diverge, thus changing his future.
In the following diagram, the time freezing begins at the origin, and then he skips back to the point when it begun and rejoins those around him on a new diverging timeline. Nothing from his past can change due to these timeouts, so the past is undefined.
Category of time travel
Psychological: angels.
Model of time
Undefined past, open future with a diverging timeline.
