A Critique to Departures

In the Picture: Daigo Kobayashi, The Encoffiner

           Death is a Taboo. In the Chinese culture that I live in, Death is widely celebrated with paying respects to ancestors multiple times a year and rituals that has been passed down. However, society simply does not look up to jobs like this. This pose a Question, "Would you be an Encoffiner?". Even Google, with its red underlining doesn't acknowledge "Encoffiner" as a real job. That is just how it goes in Social norms. While Jobs like Engineers, Lecturers and Doctors are high praised, who would willingly want to be a mortician, insurance seller or lorry drivers even though they come with extravagant salaries like the former? Would You? 

      

             Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen, once again we have another movie that really surprised me and I rank this as my favorite movie as all time. Either I haven't watch too many great movies or I am a sucker for melodramas, let's get into the review. 

              After the movie, my friend and I exited the classroom in awe and in confusion. I posed the question to them about taking up the job as the Encoffiner. They say "Of couse, I would". Now that I think back, I really think they were merely saying that they won't discriminate. But I have a feeling that none of them would really want to take up the job. First of all, the film depicts the reality of the job.... IN THE FIRST JOB ITSELF. He had to basically carry a rotting grandma, surrounded with maggot and a revolting smell. The movie showed him basically had to cleanse himself in the bath and cleaning himself vigorously multiple times before he was fully satisfied. He was traumatized by that experience, the smell, the corpses (evident in the chicken corpse), and the living (when he sexually embraced his wife). But that wasn't the worst of it, the worse part comes from the shunning that occurs within the society. This is a known as contemptuous prejudice where society perceived them as using resources and not valued in the society. His friend said, "Get a proper job" and his wife said "Don't Touch Me! Filthy!". Imagine how any ordinary person would have felt in this situation. Now, money wasn't the main motivation for him, then what was? 

             With that, let's move onto the change of mentality of how the people of this movie, starting from Daigo all the way to the audience, view Death. I think this is the main point of the whole movie, isn't it. The movie slowly changes the perspective of death and this is prevalent in all great movies. Fun fact: Salmon are anadromy as they migrate to the sea and come back to freshwater and reproduce. Once they reproduce, they die from exhaustion (Thank you, Dr Gentaro). In a way, it is just to say that every death, brings a new beginning. Now, isn't it coincidental that the ending is the almost same way? Daigo's wife having a child and his dad passed away as the crescendo moment of the movie? It is to illustrate that life is a natural process and it shouldn't be stigmatized. Secondly, it is how the role of the encoffining process redefined how death is portrayed. I think in our minds we have a mental schema of how we see things. Some of us pictured this heinous and depressing procession of the funeral. But the movie made the process so elegant. In the thought bubble of Daigo, Encoffining is like reviving a dead body and grant them eternal beauty. I couldn't have said it any better. They were visual cues of happiness (girls who gave Daigo socks), vulnerability (the man who scold them for being late) and forgiveness (father who accepted his child as a transgender). This are all humane traits that gave the encoffining process a sense of meaning and respect that it deserved. If Doctors treat the patients, Encoffiners treat the families left behind. This process ended with Daigo experiencing how carelessly, the people at the funeral home dealt with his father. He proceeded with doing the process that gives dignity to the deceased. Now, everyone from Wife, friend and eventually the audience started to realize the honor and beauty in his work and stop being prejudiced towards him. His wife even said, "My husband is an encoffiner". As though, it is a affirmation and acceptance.

            This movie also captivated the audience with the element of suspense in each scene. For one, it started with Daigo doing the encoffining process with the girl and found the "thing". I thought it was pregnancy or the parents forcing him to be a woman. But it wasn't, it was revealed later on that she was a transgender and what's more is that the parents finally accepted the reality of it. Secondly, it was the man who advised him about the Salmon. I thought that he was the father but in the end, he was really the gatekeeper that help the bath lady to cremate. The film did not show who is the father till the end. It could have been the old bath man, the boss or the man who died in Cafe.
      Finally, The stone. That stone was crucial in the film in making this film what it was. The movie first shows the stone when he plays his Cello but never anything further. Then, he gives the stone to his wife telling her what it means. In the end, it was revealed that the father still carried the stone with him. It was symbolic that he still hold regret that he left Daigo and his mum but at the same time it could also mean that although he left, he still hold Daigo very dear to him and never forget him. The stone also made the image for Daigo clear again. Previously, it was blurred but once he held the stone, the image of his father became clear again. Hohoho.... that is not the end of it. There is still one more. Daigo's wife showing the stone to Daigo and then bringing it towards the baby. What do you think that means? This film leaves the audience guessing and never gives the audience the full picture. This keeps the audience engaged and uncertain. There is a Need for humans to find out answers and that's why audience are more engaged when it is uncertain than predictable movies. 

              This movie is seriously a great movie. Filled with interesting concepts and "Freshness". I really like it plays with our emotions and intrigued our thinking caps at the end of the film. When I walked out of the Classroom, I said it to my friends, "This is the best movie I ever seen". Thank you and stay tuned for next week's episode!