This is what Gabriel says to Constantine:
You will die because you smoked 30 cigarettes a day from age 15
You will go to hell for the lives you took.
So besides demons and himself, who did Constantine kill?
"for the life you took"
his own
Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls008200422/
You are right Dr Dave.
I watched the scene again and Gabriël says "the live you took", but the Dutch subtitles translate it as " the lives you took".
A big difference for this movie, shows you can't always trust the translation :-(
Just in case Gabriel means Constantine's suicide - he took his own life.
Kind of shows what bureaucratic hellhole heaven really is ;)
I went to Carholic schools for 12 years, now an atheist; and I can tell you that they believe, if you survive a suicide (even if clinically dead for two minutes) you only need to go to confession and you're freed from hell.
But Constantine isn't religious, so maybe he refuses to go. (seems a little pig headed)
I've also thought, even though he knows God/Devil, Heaven/Hell is real, he may also know that religion and it's prayer/rules are bulls**t, so he can't be forgiven.
Even if God was real, the rules are still made up by corrupt men.
ie. Up until 150 years ago, you didn't say prayers after confession, you payed $$ to be forgiven.
(unless you were a cute young boy...)
Yeah good point! I always thought that suicide guarantees you hell only because you can't confess after committing this mortal sin. But... well what if you kill yourself slowly and still can confess your sins before dying, do you go to heaven lol.
I think you are right, Constantine is ultimately an atheist, or an anti-theist since he knows God exists but doesn't believe in him since he is against his tyrannical rule.
I was an annoying kid in catholic school, and asked too many questions.
Religious people hate questions.
So I actually know the answer to this.
It's not just confession, you have an act of contrition to do as well, usually prayer, use to be money.
If you kill yourself slowly, ie. slow poison, or bleeding out, your act of contrition would be to seek medical help or cease in what you're doing that is killing you.
If you do not, you're not forgiven.
So, you need to find a way that once set in motion, you die slowly enough to go to confession; but no doctor, or yourself, can save you.