Uhm...
The dead pilots cannot touch material objects, they fall through the bottom of a rubber boat and walk right through other people - yet they hold on to trees and do not sink into the ground... huh?
shareWell, as the girl explained, the trees and the ground existed during both their time and the present, so they can touch them, just like the plane. The rubber boat didn't exist back in their time, so they can't touch it.
shareYeah, but even as she was explaining that, I was looking at the two-inch thick tree trunk that he was hanging onto and thinking that the tree was no more than five or so years old. It sure as heck wasn't there in 1927. There would have been OTHER trees and branches, but not THOSE. Now, I suppose that he was clutching a 1927 tree that just HAPPENED to be in the very same place and the exact same thickness of the present day tree, but.....it's problematical.
shareIt's called artistic license, some things are best left to "That's just how it is." If we tried go be logical about the movie, none of it would probably be possible.
shareThis movie was an excellent example of the blending of fact, fiction and fantasy to tell a wonderful story. I cannot believe that this kind of question is being raised. If you insist on realism, forget touching trees how about a 12 year old girl lifting a 300 pound engine out of the water. Or two kids rebuilding the engine and airframe so it can run and fly?
Come on people this movie is a wonderful and fanciful release from reality. It is s wonderful story and the kind of thing dreams are made of. But if you must over analyze it, consider that all of the materials, nutrients, minerals, and soil that make up those trees were there at that site at the time of the crash and they were only reformed into the trees as they grew. The rubber from the raft was never at that location and was a synthetic so it did not exist at the time of the crash.