On Okuribito

Heard some good reviews about this award winning film "Okuribito" a while back, but it was pretty hard getting a suitable copy, especially with the subtitles, considering it's a foreign film. But finally I did. So one fine Saturday evening, tucked away comfortably under my blanket in the bedroom, I decided to put everything aside and join the sending of the deceased onto their journey.

The fact that the director was brave enough to put forth such a taboo in the society into a film; as much as I respect the directors who ventured into homosexual-themed movies, was something to respectable, I thought. But being Buddhist myself, I don't see why there would be such a strong rejection towards the occupation of a coffin-man. It hurt me most when the coffin-man's wife shouted "Filthy!" at him. I was shocked for a moment. I presumed no one in Japan wants to touch the deceased. But why? Have they not known the deceased when they were still alive? Had they not remembered that, the person lying lifeless was once too, breathing like us? We are all, living. And by definition, all living things will die.

More often than not, society taboo blinded us. We simply belief things without finding out why, and when we were asked why such a response, we could only say "people say". But what exactly did people say? Is it really filthy dealing with the deceased? Is it really a taboo helping to cleanse the dead before putting them into the coffin? I thought he was very graceful and professional. I would too, want him to en-coffin me when I die. Figuratively speaking of course. In fact, given a chance, I would really like to learn.

But in the end, everyone (in this case, his wife bearing the heaviest weight) accepted his job, if not thank him for what he has done. I thought it was the emotional peak of the whole movie when he finally went on to en-coffin his deceased father himself, where he learned and find out that all his misconceptions were wrong all these while. That somehow, no matter what happened, our parents still love us, very deeply, even till their last breath. And they will hold on to something that reminds them of their happiest moment in their entire life, the birth of their child.

He said something really meaningful in the movie when his wife asked him to quit the job. "So what? Everybody will die. One day I will die, and you will die too." So what is there to be ashamed of? We're never going to live forever. People we love will die eventually. And it was also a moving scene when his old-time friend cried at the sight of the cremation of his mother. (Given the personal experience of rebel towards my own mommy, my hurt churned whenever he cried out "I'm sorry") But a friend once told me, death or funeral shouldn't be a ceremony of wailing and crying. It should be a celebration, a cheerful event to send our loved ones to a better life.

So, I salute Yasuhiro Mase, to have introduced such a powerful film. A film which bore so many essence, so heavy that one minute after another, the emotional typhoon it triggered, shook your mind over and over again. Passion, relationship, respect, anger and regret. And so much more in between the lines.

But of course, one would wonder, a musician to have a body like that... *drools*