Gates of Heaven (1978)

Director: Errol Morris

The Lowdown: A documentary chronicling the stories of two different pet cemeteries and those whose lives are affected by them.

My Take:
There are occasionally films that cause one to be a bit befuddled. "Gates of Heaven" is just such a film.  It's an odd documentary that is simultaneously a quirky story about a bizarre profession and a thoughtful, effective drama about how we deal with death.

However, to describe the film as being purely about the pet cemetery business would be misleading. Pet burials are merely a common point of interest that all the film's characters share, and is more than anything a jumping off point for a series of intriguingly quirky but always respectful character studies. For instance, we meet one man who works at one of the pet cemeteries but his real passion is music, he goes on and on about his love of it, his new amp system and we even see him play guitar. Yet while it seems tangential it's still fascinating stuff.

Scenes like this populate the film, but director Errol Morris never allows their weirdness to overtake the film and take it off the central idea: an examination of how these very different people react to the death of a loved one, in this case a pet.  Morris allows the film to tell its own story, simply showing interviews without narration or music to manipulate the material and draw fake emotions from the audience making "Gates of Heaven" an exceptionally authentic experience.

In all, it's hard to sum the film up without giving away everything that makes it such a unique experience. I will, however, say that "Gates of Heaven" is one of the most unique films, documentary or otherwise you will ever see. Its central subject is a bit odd but is also what makes the film accessible, despite touching on the very real and dark topic of losing a beloved family member.

Best Moment: An old woman who recently lost her pet proceeds to go on a tangent for several minutes about her son who never repays the money she owes her, never comes to see her, etc. This is shown uncut, in its entirety and is sad yet surprisingly hilarious because of its excessive length and how extraneous it is to the rest of the film.

In Short: "Gates of Heaven" is a bizarre film that is at once very funny in some strange ways, but also an uncompromising, engaging and sometimes strangely moving look at how human beings react to death.

9 out of 10