Viva Brighton Issue #69 November 2018

FILM
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Dead Good
Caring for our dead
Do you remember the 2008 Japanese film
Departures? About a young man working in
an undertakers? So beautiful. And I was put in
mind of that when I first read about Dead Good,
Rehana Rose’s feature documentary about the
ritual of care after death, which is screening at
the Depot on 13th November.
It too is a beautiful film, full of moving testimony,
as it follows three groups of mourners,
each supported by ARKA Original Funerals,
based in Brighton. “I think the women there are
pioneers”, Rehana says. “They’re empowering
people about the ritual of care that’s disappeared
from our society.”
The film includes footage of the mourners tending
to their dead – washing and dressing them,
for instance. It took just under three years to
make. “It took the first six months of filming for
me to work out what part of the death process
to focus on, but that is it: the uncharted territory
between point of death and ceremony.”
Rehana said her interest came when, in three
consecutive years, her mother, an ex-partner and
a young friend died. “If you’ve never organised
a funeral before,” she says “you go with what
you’re told to do. You can be on autopilot, too,
because of your state of mind. But the third of
these funerals was supported by ARKA, and it
opened my eyes. There were choices you could
make. Death is a normal part of life.”
There’s a striking lack of pomp or pretension
around all the interactions we witness in the
film. The two funeral directors, Cara and Sarah,
are so matter of fact, while clearly compassionate
– “we’re just normal people” – and this seems
to reassure as well as empower their customers.
Cara is our main guide throughout the film. Her
inspiration to become a funeral director also
came, partly, from the personal experience of her
own mother’s death: “it just happened”, she says
in the film, of the funeral. She felt she herself
had no real, hands-on involvement.
“It’s all about offering people choices”, says
Rehana. “There’s a growing movement of people
wanting to open up the conversation around
death. More and more are realising that they
can decide what they want, and how involved
they personally want to be.” It’s clear she feels
strongly.
I ask about the practicalities of making the film.
“It was very difficult. It was a big ask, for my
camera to be invited in: I knew that. But people
allowed me.” The music in the film was important
to her too – to reflect how music is used at
ceremonies – but getting permissions can be a
minefield. (Any music can be used in a funeral,
but for her to film and then release this, not so.)
“Robert Smith of The Cure was great”, she said.
“After watching an early edit, he re-recorded a
track especially for our film! Such generosity.”
Charlotte Gann
The Depot, Lewes, 13th Nov, 6pm.
Part of Cinecity, cine-city.co.uk
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