Obit: Your Life In 500 Words

The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. - Mark Twain.

This is not quote from this new documentary "Obit". A film that, to some degree, glamorizes the work of the obituary writers at the New York Times. By "glamorize", I don't mean "making it fashionable," but, rather, this film shows the alluring side of a job some would usually associate with a rather depressing, dark, sad character.

It is not.

At least that's what the characters - the real life reporters of the New York Times' obituary department are trying to convey to the audience throughout the film. According to them, their obituaries are more about "life" than "death," more about celebrating the lives of the deceased rather than talking about the end of it.

Of course, while at a journalism school, not many writers to be would plan wishfully to be ending up writing about "deaths", but this job is way more than just that. And this film shows very well how every single reporter of this department approaches his/her daily job as an obituary writer and through their eyes we, as an audience, get to have an intimate contact with the reality of their job - the lively part of this job. If I may say so.

How many of you actually ever read newspaper obituaries? I doubt many. So you might be surprised to learn in the film that there's a whole audience of the NYT that favor, one way or another, that section of the daily newspaper and look forward to reading the articles of the obit writers. I, as many, only used to read about the deaths of the famous people that I knew very well - actors, musicians, etc. And these writers every day seek out interesting and different ways of writing about those who made an impact on our society, be it scientists, politicians, doctors, film directors, war veterans, etc. What might seem like a very peculiar day to start for most of us, for these writers who start their day with a question "Who is dead?" it's just another day to celebrate someone's life and often they face the reality of people they meet to disclaim the gloominess of their job. A job that challenges them to put someone's whole life into 500 words. And that's not a whole lot.

Here's the trailer:



Video source: Tribute Movies.