h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"Dying at Grace" Documentary film by Allan King

"Dying at Grace" is a profoundly moving documentary, which follows the last weeks and months in the lives of 5 dying patients. Filmed at Toronto’s Grace Hospital, this film pulls no punches and we are permitted to share the drama-less path of death as it is taken by each of the 5 patients.

Some critics have said that the film invades the privacy of the dying, removing the dignity from their passing. However, each of the patients and their families agreed to allow Allan King to film what most of us rarely experience until it is our turn to walk that final path. I thank them for the gift of allowing us a glimpse at the most private moment of their lives. We can see, but we cannot share the path that must be walked alone.

In many cultures, and certainly in past eras, death is openly seen and shared by the family and even by the community. The face and sound of death was familiar, we were not set apart from it. Or rather, it was not set apart from us. Today, in the West, we are isolated from death, isolated from the experience. We fear death, we hide the dying from us, and, as a consequence, we cannot face what all of us must face.

Each of the patients in the film have come from different backgrounds, lived different lives, and face death in different ways. And yet, in the end, their deaths are remarkably similar. Each’s last breath is indistinguishable from that of another. In death, we are all alike.

http://www.tvo.org/dyingatgrace/

Christ, wish I could see it .

I suspect it will turn up on PBS in the US. I don't know about the UK or Australia and New Zealand. It has been making the rounds of the film festivals, though.

The subject-matter makes it unlikely to surface even in rep theatres. It may be available to groups, though, and that might be where you might stand a better chance of seeing it. When TVO, here in Ontario, played it, it was followed by a phone-in discussion, which can be seen at the website I posted.

This is Allan King's website: http://www.allankingfilms.com/

His other documentaries are available through his website. I suspect that "Dying at Grace" will also be available there, at some point.

I was hoping Netflix would have this available to rent, but they don't.

hi Mudhooks,

I have mentioned your link for 'Dying at Grace' on a thread I started today on 'ask h2g2'.

F19585?thread=388283

Called the thread 'Life before Death?' because I think so many of us don't appreciate what we have until we are about to lose it.



az

Thanks!

I actually got an email from the production company for the film regarding the general release.

They told me that they are going to let me know when the video is released and details of how to get hold of a copy. I also sent them a copy of the review.