A Certain Kind of Death

I love this film. The director's unblinking eye captures something extraordinary and mundane. You see the process of laying to rest the John and Jane Does of Los Angeles. Some parts are extremely graphic, showing the bodies of deceased people (vagrants really) as well as the practical and unsettlingly methodical protocol used to handle and interr the remains. Part of me sees this film as a sweet elegy about death and impermanence. The other part of me sees a film about fascism and genocide because all of the living characters are lower-middle class bureaucrats who exist in a bureaucratic fog. Whether they shuffle papers or crush incinerated bone fragments, there is an alarming detachment masked behind a thin layer of civic obligation. This is not like the docs on CourtTV; this is a thoughtful, well-shot production.

One of the better documentaries I've seen, A Certain Kind of Death explores what happens to people whose bodies go unclaimed by relatives. Although it's a grisly subject the film makers were able to make it an interesting and very watchable experience.

Dead bodies in various stages of decomposition are seen, but not played for shock factor. Instead, you learn a little about each person, both what they were before death and what will happen to them afterward. They are followed from the discovery of the body to the final disposition of the remains, and each step in between.

The LA County Coroner's Office figures prominently, and they are shown to be a dedicated and professional group with respect for the dead and their property. I was surprised to find this documentary to be so watchable, it has a good flow and answers most if not all questions.

I worked as a hospice nurse and witnessed several people pass with no family present. I always wondered what the next step was for them. It's a sad but curious process they go through with no one to take care of the next steps following death. Several things you don't think of in life at a certain age. You can't look away! If anything it makes you want to prepare in advance so you don't fall through the cracks. Rare views of decomposition and the cleanup process before they became a regular YouTube view. You do become involved with the individual they find...do they find family? Why did they die? What was their life like? Very interesting but done it what I feel is a very respectful and somber way given the subject matter. It is interesting to note they do look for quite some time for surviving family before burial.

The film follows the events that happen following three people's deaths in LA county. None of them have next of kins and are in the hand of the government.

Overall, it was good but not captivating enough. Only one of the three I felt that I really gotten to know his life or who he is. The other two people followed in the film felt "incomplete." The people they interviewed also did not seem passionate enough about their jobs, and as a result, I did not feel the emotions I expected from a film with its goal.

Disturbing, creepy, sad documentary on how the body and personal effects of those who die without kin are handled by the coroner's office.

The lack of music and narration, combined with carefully coldly composed cinematography all add to the disturbing sense of clinical isolation.

The images of real dead bodies being discovered, cataloged, and eventually reduced to ash can't help but make one ponder mortality, and how alone we all are in the end.

Yet sometimes the air of reserve feels forced, and there's a bit of repetitiveness, despite the short (69 min) running time.

Still, a fascinating, macabre, thought provoking film