Departures was the winner in the best foreign film category at the Oscars in 1999. The movie is based on a novel titled Coffinman and was directed by Yojiro Takita and has English subtitles.
Daigo Kobayashi is a cellist with a modern Japanese orchestra which closes down due to lack of patronage. This leaves Daigo without a job and forces him to sell his costly and professional cello, move to the town he was born in to occupy the house left back by his deceased Mother. Daigo responds to an advertisement about a job with Sasaki and manages to bag it only to realize it wasn’t what he thought it to be. The job is to prepare dead bodies for burial, encoffination is the term used by some.
Reluctant Daigo learns the trade from his boss Sasaki, a man of few words but who portrays immense respect for the dead and living, who meticulously work on dead bodies with respect to wash, clean, clothe and make them look their best in the last few moments left on Earth. Daigo’s wife Mika doesn’t like his job when she get’s to know it, he becomes a pariah with the only other association he’s shown to have in the movie.
Daigo nurtures an almost perfect relationship with his boss and eventually learns to respect and practise his trade with art like precision. Having raised by a single mother, he nurses a grudge for his Father who deserted them while he was a child. His wife leaves him asking him to decide if he wants to continue the profession or live with her.
There isn’t too much dramatic tension in the narrative, all such setups are resolved before they can sink in. The movie has been shot very beautifully with classical or classical-like orchestral music to back up the shots. The third movement (popularly known as Ode to Joy) from Beethoven’s 9th plays in it’s full 6 track glory in the early section of the movie showing Daigo’s orchestra. Daigo find more music and looks inward as his learning of his trade progresses.
The ending reunites Daigo back with his wife and brings closure to his inner turmoil in a very nice way. The Japanese have made an art of folding paper, which goes by the name Origami. Even routine and mundane activities like manufacturing in an assembly line is practiced like an art in Japan. It’s hence not very surprising to see how much of a care and devotion is laid out to prepare dead people and give them a fitting farewell from this world.
There are many scenes that stand out due to content that’s emotional or soul stirring. A dead wife’s husband crying “Naomi”, Daigo’s boss Sasaki’s methods while working, Mika starting to take pride in her husband’s profession, the Japanese people’s liking for good food, all have been portrayed exquisitely. A scene depicting salmon trying to swim up a river while dead one’s float downstream is profound in meaning. The scene where Sasaki & Daigo show up 5 minutes late to be shouted at mirrors the fact that the Japanese are sticklers for punctuality.
Departures is a must watch on any movie lover’s list, for the way characters have been laid out and made to play; around the theme of mortal certainity, of death and loss, yet would make you exclaims “What a beautiful movie!” instead of anything negative.
