As time goes on I experience death more and more, whether it was watching someone die in a vehicle accident outside my workplace, being the hospice caretaker for my grandfather, and being there when they pulled the plug on my father. We all have had experiences with death but it still doesn’t comfort many of us in the idea of our own death. Death as a subject has held our interest since the beginning and until the unsure end of time or at least our time as humans. I have broken down the exploration of death in film into the themes of Death Diagnosed, Death Reflected, Reel Death, and After Death.
Death Diagnosed
The Last Dance (1993) dir. Juzo Itami
Buhei (Rentaro Mikuni) is an egotistical chauvinistic director who is working on a film about a man (played by himself) dying of cancer. Sometimes life imitates art and Buhei becomes ill and is diagnosed with terminal cancer; however Buhei himself doesn’t know this. The staff of the hospital, family, and friends lie to Buhei and tell him he has only an ulcer as they try to treat his cancer secretly. This film reminds me a lot of The Farewell (2019) but in my opinion does the right thing and breaks the tradition of hiding people’s medical information from themselves. Buhei realizes he is not getting better and refuses further treatment so he can have enough strength to finish his film with the help of his loved ones. The importance of being able to have autonomy over your own life and deciding how to spend the last of it should be up to the said individual, not their family/medical staff.
Available on The Criterion Channel
Wit (2001) dir. Mike Nichols
Vivian Bearing (Emma Thompson) an English professor has been diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. Vivian agrees to experimental aggressive treatment that pushes her body to extremes which is nothing new for Vivian as you learn how strict she was with others throughout her career but slowly she realizes that some gentleness is necessary in life. Emma Thompson’s performance is truly the driving force of this HBO TV film. We watch as she is degraded and belittled by her doctors while she still tries to hold onto her humanity and help her medical staff realize she is more than a medical project. A great juxtaposition to The Last Dance (1993) watching the difference of how these people’s lives come to an end and the effect it has on them and those around them.
Available on Max
Death Reflected
Taste of Cherry (1997) dir. Abbas Kiarostami
Mr. Badii is driving around a city in Iran looking for someone to possibly help him with a project. It is revealed that Badii is trying to hire someone to come check on a hole he dug in the countryside the next morning; if he is dead inside the hole he asks them to bury him but if he is alive he wants them to pull him out. Obviously this is a big ask from a stranger and throughout the film we get some big reasons from different people why they can’t do him this favor, whether it be moral, spiritual, or love for one another. The film ends somewhat ambiguous but it’s a beautiful film about the scale of death and life.
Available on Max
This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection (2019) dir. Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese
In a small village within Lesotho, we meet an elderly widow Mantoa and we quickly find out she lost her entire family, most recently her last surviving child dies suddenly in a work accident. Mantoa has lost the will to live but for some reason she just won’t die. During this whole process we learn that her village has been chosen to be a victim of a government dam project. Mantoa realizes that the village’s graveyard will also be underwater, disrespecting her loved ones and not allowing herself to be laid down with them. Mantoa must resist even though she doesn’t even really know where to begin or how she can stop it but it must be stopped.
This film is a beautiful commentary on progress and what can be lost as the world continues spinning on a little too quickly, sometimes destroying the past that the present will become part of sooner than they realize.
Available on The Criterion Channel
Reel Death
Dying at Grace (2003) dir. Allan King
A documentary about several patients receiving palliative care at Toronto Grace Health Centre– this film is death. The film’s cinema verite approach doesn’t try to interfere with what’s going on, no driving narrative, there’s no questions from the filmmaker and most importantly just like death itself– there are no answers. To put it plain and simple we watch as people slowly die at a hospital in all of its ugliness and time.
Available on The Criterion Channel
How to Die in Oregon (2011) dir. Peter Richardson
I’m choosing this documentary as a direct response to Dying at Grace (2003). This film follows a handful of people in Oregon who are choosing physician assisted suicide and what death looks like when we take control of it versus fighting it. We watch as people argue whether this is a cowardly action, when is the right time, and the importance of access to health care for some whether it is to extend health or extinguish life putting an end to anguish. An emotional educational piece on the rights and wrongs of a very disputed law that is slowly gaining footing throughout the United States.
Available on Tubi
After Death
Enter the Void (2009) dir. Gaspar Noe
Oscar, an American drug dealer, in Tokyo is set up by a friend in a drug bust that ends with Oscar being shot and killed by the police. This is where the film begins as Oscar has a psychedelic out of body experience for the rest of the film. We learn about Oscar’s life and his relationships with his sister and friends. The film has obvious setups like the Tibetan Book of the Dead plugged throughout the movie and we are reminded of its rules as Oscar floats through time and space. The psychedelic imagery in the film can quickly become too much and overused but does help along with the first person cinematography to bring this cyclical film together to give the audience an interesting idea of life after death.
Available on Tubi
A Matter of Life and Death (1946) dir. Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
British Airman Peter wasn’t supposed to survive his plane going down but miraculously pulled through. Shortly after this Peter finds and falls in love with June, the radio operator who he was communicating with while his plane was going down. Things were looking up but then an angel appears before Peter telling him there’s been a mistake and he has to take Peter to heaven because he was supposed to die the night of the plane crash. Peter objects and asks to plead his case to the higher ups which they agree to and Peter must face his trial in heaven. This film is beautifully expressed through the juxtaposition of life being in color and the afterlife being in black and white. A perfect classic about the afterlife that has been mimicked and remade so many times that some have missed this must see piece of film.
Available on The Criterion Channel or free on Youtube
None of these films hold the right answer or approach to death but they are explorations into the unknown because the only way we could only approach death is by making a playground of it in our expressions throughout our life.
Here are some bonus films if you didn’t feel like you got enough from the others:
Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962) dir. Agnes Varda
Testament of Orpheus (1960) dir. Jean Cocteau
The End (2004) dir. Kirby DickAfter Life (1998) dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
Luke Safely is a letter carrier who has too much time on his hands (after being cleared of mail that is) and fills it with film. Holds a bachelor’s in film production with a minor in philosophy from MSUM.
All movie poster images sourced from IMdB.com
RRCC 