As much as we would like to believe that we are winning the War on Terror, Charlie shows us that the terror those behind 9/11 sought to inflict still very much reigns over and controls many affected by 9/11.

In a country of opportunity, Charlie is barely able to step foot into a dental office much less practice the profession to which he once gave so much of his life. In a land of unity and connection, he isolates himself and almost runs in fear from any interaction with others. And in a world where he was free to share a life with a wife and children whom he desperately loved, he refuses to even remember the joy and meaning he found in those connections because the loss and destruction associated with them are just too painful.

But then, Alan shows up and tries to help. And Charlie reaches out and pushes away and reaches back again and pushes away again. And then, after much hesitation, Charlie reluctantly shares with Alan and others about the past that haunts him every day, the past that he so does not want to remember but can do nothing to forget.

It is difficult and the tremendous grief it causes Charlie is painfully evident. His memories are filled with guilt and regret, with emptiness and despair, with a hopelessness that cannot even begin to see anything outside of complete loss and absolute destruction.

Charlie is wracked by the imprisoning control of grief and loss. When his almost inability to function comes up against the law, Charlie faces even further imprisonment.

But, in a scene that points to the core of the movie, the judge looking at Charlie’s case asks a question to those who have taken it upon themselves to try to help Charlie: What would Charlie’s wife have wanted?

And the only answer for Charlie and everyone in his life is clear. Love. For Charlie to remember the love that he and his family shared, to believe in that love, and to seek and share that love again. For those around him to recognize that the only thing that can truly combat the terrorizing imprisonment of love lost is the freeing shower and acceptance of love still present.

As the movie’s title song “Reign O’er Me” tells us, there are things that both reign and rain over us. Reign/Rain can be imprisoning and destructive. It can control in ways that push us down and strip us of freedom and hope and joy. It can turn our worlds into continuous skies of clouds and coldness and isolation. Or, as the song tells us, we can instead call upon the reign/rain of love, upon a downpour and a ruling force that sets us free, quenches our thirst, cleanses our pain, releases our tears, and reminds us that we are alive.

As Pope John Paul II said the day after the 9/11 attacks, “Even if the forces of darkness appear to prevail, those who believe in God know that evil and death do not have the final say.”

While we may not be able to choose many of the rains that come our way, Reign Over Me shows us that we can choose what we will let reign over our lives. And whatever may come our way, it is my hope that there will always be someone there to remind us of the true power and possibility behind a reign of love, to show us that even in a world of terror and loss and hopelessness that our need for the freedom and renewal of love will always be answered

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