Everything will pass away, only death will live forever.
What does death mean? How should we face death?
I think that's a question that a lot of people have thought about.
This Japanese film "Entering the Mortician", which cuts from the perspective of the funeral master of the deceased's coffin, records the work and life of the protagonist Daigo Kobayashi after he accidentally entered the industry and came into contact with various bodies. From resistance to acceptance, Daigo had a different understanding of death.
The film was released in Japan on September 10, 2008
People fear death. Whether one has done great deeds while alive, or whether one has committed heinous sins, or has achieved nothing, it cannot prevent death from coming.
After death, yuan knows that everything is empty. Death means demise, not only the destruction of the flesh, but also the complete dissipation of the spirit.
Everything in life is full of uncertainty. The so-called miracle of creation - the universe we live in is only an accident created by the explosion of a singularity, and life on Earth may only be an inadvertent spark in the collision of billions of molecular aggregates. Everything seemed like just a fluke accident.
Life is made up of a series of accidents, and you can't control birth or control death. In the face of impermanence, people longed to grasp something to stabilize the fluttering candle of life, and religion was born. If you can't be sure of this life, then you have to hope for the next life—something has to be done to get psychological comfort and realize the sense of meaning in life.
Some people have chosen religion.
Another group of people are still exploring.
The film begins with a coffin ceremony. When Daigo and the president were sorting out the remains of the man who had committed suicide by burning charcoal, they found that the beautiful-looking deceased was actually the boy's body.
When deciding whether to leave male or female makeup for men, despite complaining that she was "born of the wrong gender", her mother chose female makeup for her.
I don't know what happened before leaving the boy, but it must not be very pleasant, otherwise I would not have chosen suicide.
People are always weird. When you are alive, you have a lot of expectations for your family and friends, hoping that the other party can achieve success in the worldly sense, or just don't go out of the ordinary, go with the flow in peace, and don't be too unique, because everyone is like this. And if it does not meet the requirements, it will be harsh, and it will be disappointed to fill the Pacific Ocean. Expectations are mount Fuji weighed on overhead.
Once the person dies, the deceased is the greater, as if suddenly seeing the other person's true self, and then begin to respect the deceased's wish- which at this time becomes a will--to be fulfilled for him.
The dead are gone. Respecting the wishes of the deceased is, in the final analysis, for the guilt of the living, after all, life still has to go on.
This is a very heavy film beginning. Suddenly facing death and the body gave me a lot of psychological pressure, like a cold stone pressed against my heart. I was even worried that I couldn't bear it and thought about whether to leave early.
Fortunately, the next scene is a concert. Daigo and his orchestra colleagues play the cello.
The low, elegant sound of the cello runs throughout the film, like a river slowly flowing, bringing a vigorous life.
The flowing music slightly dilutes the huge impact and depression of Liu Man's death. However, the relaxed and pleasant times are always short-lived. The end of this concert was also the end of Daigo's career as a violinist – the orchestra was disbanded.
After losing his job, Daigo sold his cello and returned to his hometown in Yamagata Prefecture with his wife Mika. Because of a typo job posting, I accidentally stepped into an industry that I had never known before - collecting coffins for the remains.
What the film wants to explore and represent is actually very simple: death and love. Among them, love includes the love of parents, the love of husband and wife, and the love of friends and neighbors.
Life and love are always closely related. Death does not mean the dissipation of love, which is the most precious experience that ordinary life has.
The funeral master's ceremony of collecting the coffin for the deceased is completed in the company of the deceased's family and friends. Scrub the bodies of the deceased, organize their faces, and solemnize them. Silence produces a power that can temporarily dissipate grief and support the living to bid farewell to the deceased relatively peacefully.
Death is not associated with religion in the film. There is no discussion and promise that after death one will go to another world, or that a soul with a good afterlife will live forever, nor is there any consolation that the living and the deceased will meet in the afterlife. Only respect for the fact of death, with a set of calm, graceful, gentle and meticulous complicated rituals, to give dignity to the deceased and comfort to the living.
This silent, solemn farewell is very different from the clamor of funerals in our culture. It is said that Chinese people like to be lively, and funerals are also the tradition of drums and pots and songs, using this noisy and busy ceremony to temporarily escape and forget the pain.
Our culture seems to be always secretive about death. Death is a word that is avoided, not only can not be said in good days, but also can be avoided in ordinary times. It seems that as long as you don't mention it, you can temporarily escape the shadow of death. At the farewell ceremony, there are many red tape and superstition taboos, such as women's menstruation can not be close, send spirits, tears can not drip on the body, etc., it is really difficult for strong people.
I have not participated in a coffin ceremony in Japan, which is presided over by a mortician, and can only be experienced as a moviegoer. This quiet, methodical ritual can precipitate emotions, and sadness is faced squarely and can be told. Saying goodbye well is always a kind of fulfillment in life.
There is a sentence in the film that touched me very much. It was Masayoshi Hirata who said at the funeral of the bathhouse grandmother Yamashita Yanko: "Death is a door, it does not mean the end of life, but through it to enter another stage, in fact, it is the door, I, as the gatekeeper, sent many people through that door, and said to them: Be careful on the road, we will have a period later." ”
A few years ago, a close friend passed away, and I bid him farewell with his relatives. This was the first time that I had faced the departure of a friend of the same age, and the despair and pain in the panic could not bear to think back. I continued to say goodbye to him in my memory, unwilling to close the door. Perhaps, now I can try to say to him, "Be careful on the road, we will have a period later." ”