Departures by Yojiro Takita | Grace is Gone by James C. Strouse

This time we were exposed to two movies which were kind of sad and grief, “Departures” by Yojiro Takita and “Grace is Gone” by James C. Strouse. I hate to say but I did cried during the showing of movies. It involved high emotional content that caused anger, anxiety, depression and grief.

Of “Departures” movie, the movie talks about the main character, Daigo, who loses his job and he moves back to his hometown with his wife, Mika. He then finds a job through newspaper which he thought it is an travel agency company, turns out it is about undertaker which has to deal with the corpses. He forces to accept the job because he needs money. However, when he first sees his boss, Sasaki preparing the dead, the way he does it, he feels amazed and respectful of him. As time goes by, he starts to handle his job and does not feel humiliated anymore. He gains a sense of fulfillment after each time the ceremony done for the grieving families. In Japan, the preparation of burial is important because it symbolizes another stage of deceased. Although applying makeup is not beneficial to the decreased, but it actually serves as a last wish or last meeting with families. In this movie, it involved a lot of high emotions that the grieving families during the burial ceremony, they get emotional when they see their beloved’s dead bodies.

“Grace is Gone” movie portrays about a man, Stanley, who just get the news of his wife, who is a soldier, has died during the duty and he has to tell the death news to his two daughters. Stanley thinks that his two daughters may not have the capacity to handle the shocking news because he himself also has a hard time to get through it. However, he tries his best not to show any negative emotion in front of his daughters, even his elder daughter, Heidi notices there is something wrong with him. Stanley brings hid two daughters to Enchanted Garden, which takes a few days out of the sudden without notify school and work. In this part, we can see that Stanley is hardly control his own behaviours, what he concerns is only how to tell his daughters about their mother’s death. In the end, he tells the death news to daughters on the way back to home, after a long day play in Enchanted Garden by the seaside. The girls cry in grief.

I personally think that funeral is a important ceremony for everyone in the families, because it is the last respect and meeting with the deceased. Even though it is a highly stressful event but people feel better and spiritually healing from the grief, because they have done the last part for the deceased and bring the deceased to another stage. I understand the loss of the beloved and I personally think that we should cherish what we have, spend more time with family before we regret.