Departures (known as おくりびと in Japan) is a great film about a cellist who became jobless and ended up taking on a job in encoffinment. Just what is so great about a film that centres around the dead?
The film is about the dead. Or rather, about the living left to take care of the dead. It is about a very niche industry that does a job that is needed (everyone eventually dies) yet few are willing to do. There are many scenes showing how the dead are cleaned and clothed. But what is so special about this process?
It is the precision and grace that the cleaning and clothing are performed, that shows the professionalism that goes into this job. As with all Japanese arts (like the tea ceremony), each movement is performed precisely and gracefully. The hands are lifted so high, the sleeve is folded at this length, the cloth is folded this many times. The clockwork precision is like watching a tea ceremony master going through his ritual of preparing tea.
It is about the commitment by the living to send off the dead, to do one final last thing for them as we bid them farewell. To make sure that we remember our loved ones as beautiful as when they were alive. We may think that undertakers are "unclean", but those who perform these last rites are so very important in helping the bereaved through their time of grief. We all want to remember our loved ones as how they were, and not as how they died. It is the professionalism of these people who handle the dead, with the respect shown to the dead, that helps the bereaved in their time of grief.
The only minus about this movie is the lead actress. The story doesn't really need a lead actress, having one was an extra, and felt that way throughout the movie. It seems as if the part of the lead actress was written just so to include her.
Official Japanese website
Official US website
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