When it comes to favourite films, there's one movie I can watch repeatedly without getting tired of it. The movie itself is from Japan but has deeply meaning from it. Okuribito or Departures has meaning “one who sends off”, and the movie is tell a story about nōkanshi a Japanese traditional mortician.
There’s a man named Daigo a retired cellist who felt not confident with his talent. He decided to change his career after the orchestra where he went to work as a cellist went bankrupt. With his wife he went back to his hometown and lived again in his mother house to start a new career. One day he tried to apply at one company that have a motto “helping people to travel”, he thought he will join a travel company. But later he knows that the company doesn’t offer a common travel to people.
It was a mortician company that lead by a middle-aged man name Sasaki Ikue. He hired Daigo and trained him as his underling nōkanshi. Nōkanshi is Japanese traditional mortician who helped deceased to go to their immortal journey. Start with cleaning and wiping the deceased and then prepared them to have a better appearance to get farewell ceremony before getting cremated.
This movie is very touching and beautifully performed by Masahiro Motoki as Daigo. His turmoil and lack of confidence as a cellist are well portrayed. Personally, I felt compelled to learn something new about Japanese culture. Especially the process of preparing a body for the farewell ceremony. We are made to understand that treating a body cannot be done carelessly, there is a philosophy that needs to be understood. Such as cleaning the body of deceased means processing to clean from painful, tiredness, and world desire. Beside that the process also represents first bath of newborn to a new life.
Daigo gradually gets used to his new job. On his first day at work, he was assigned to be a corpse model in company’s documentary video. The scene was portrayed awkward yet funny. You know you will smile when saw Daigo wear an adult diaper as his costume to become a corpse.
In the next day, he works only as Ikue-san assistant, but the deceased are a woman that had been died two weeks ago. The body had been changed and rotten, it becomes his challenge to do. Although it was traumatic for Daigo, but he try not to give up his job and he became more and more appreciate his life and his wife.
This movie delivers a very meaningful message. How you appreciate life and the after. The value of the memories about the died are portrays very beautiful. Even I watch with tears and smile to see the preparation for cleanse the died and put them the last clothes on.
Daigo’s journey to find the true meaning of the trials of life that he has gone through has not stopped yet. He learns a lot in every client that he got. Until finally he meets his long-lost father.
This movie was directed by Yojiro Takita and has won many awards at many movie festivals in domestic and international. The director itself was research deeper about nōkanshi so it would not deliver wrong impression to the audiences. The director wanted to show that death is inevitable journey of human destiny. Eventually human will come together to a point where all the dead are gathered in a new world.
Masahiro Motoki who plays as Daigo even took a lesson for playing cello and doing research also how to become nōkanshi. No wonder they won Best Foreign Language Film at 81st Academy Awards since it took 10 years to make a concept for this movie.
Hirosue Ryoko who portrayed as Daigo’s wife give a soft vibe as a wife. She can show her react very well. At first, she knows Daigo’s work she feels humiliated, but then she understands that job was meant to be for her husband.
In every scene, we brought to understand about various human life journeys that are full of regrets and happiness. In fact, everyone walks without caring about themselves and the people around them. Only death then brings back the memory that has been lost and makes us realize if there is "something" missing in a person's life.
With the background of a calm, quiet and cold countryside. Plus, the strain from the cello as a music instrument add to the aura of harsh life as well as full of solitude. Life must go on no matter what event causes a person to experience loss. But, only good memories will always be remembered. Whatever evil a person has done, death has done away with it
There's an interesting anecdote when Daigo asks about the coffin that lines his office and the co-worker says that no matter how expensive the coffin is, it will all end the same in the end. Only humans are still alive that make it different. Death is the same for all human beings.