What Binder does well is capture the heartbreaking loss felt by Fineman.  Key to the film’s emotional thrust is the use of the music in “Charlie World” which gives us a glimpse of the pain and suffering he is experiencing. 

The film begins with Graham Nash’s “Simple Man” during the opening credits:

I am a simple man
so I sing a simple song
never been so much in love
and never hurt so bad at the same time.
I am a simple man
and I play a simple tune
I wish that I could see you once again
across the room like the first time.
I just want to hold you I don’t want to hold you down
I hear what you’re saying and you’re spinning my head around
and I can’t make it alone.

Fineman and Johnson relive their college roomie days by rocking out to Bruce Springsteen’s joyous “Out In the Street” and take a scooter-ride through the streets of New York to the appropriate strains of the Pretenders “Stop Your Sobbing.”  It hits its emotional zenith with a one-two punch of Springsteen’s “Drive All Night” and the Who’s “Love Reign O’er Me.”
As Charlie finally begins to remember his beautiful family we hear Springsteen  faintly from his headphones:

When I lost you honey sometimes I think I lost my guts too
And I wish God would send me a word send me something I’m afraid to lose
Lying in the heat of the night like prisoners all our lives
I get shivers down my spine and all I wanna do is hold you tight

I swear I’ll drive all night just to buy you some shoes
And to taste your tender charms
And I just wanna sleep tonight again in your arms

Reign Over Me is an interesting study about the nature of grief and the appropriate way to mourn.  As human beings, we know intrinsically that there is a time to be born and a time to die, a time to grieve and a time to dance.  Unfortunately, Charlie Fineman cannot see that—and understandably so. 

The question remains:  what is an appropriate expression of grief?  Many in Charlie’s world will not let him grieve in his own way.  It is not as if he has given up or lost hope—he just chooses to express it differently.  While the system tries to “fix” Charlie, he wants to be left alone.  The conclusion is that those who grieve do not require a lifetime of counseling, medication, or hospitalization.  As those who have been allowed to enter “Charlie World” discover, those who have suffered unimaginable loss can get to the point where they accept the past and, while never forgetting, move on with the future.  What Reign Over Me powerfully demonstrates is that they need a support system which displays grace, unconditional love, and acceptance. 

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