In the closing scenes of “21 Grams,” one of the main characters lies in a hospital bed and recalls the urban legend that the 21 grams a human body supposedly loses at the moment of death is the loss of the soul. The eyes glaze and the heart monitor slows into the sustained death beep.

Anyone watching in the theatre can identify.

After watching “21 Grams,” the drug binges, beatings, fatal car accidents, heart transplants and attempted suicides endured by the film’s various characters feel like they happened to you. Director Alejandro Gonz