Of the Dead

Rating:
Summary: Better than Faces of Death.
Review: Des Morts (Of the Dead) is one of the better "Faces of Death" type films. Unlike the other films of this type, the footage in this film is all real. It doesn't just deal with graphic scenes of death, it deals with rare rituals that have to deal with death. Des Morts isn't too graphic, but it shouldn't be left out for little kids to view or anything. The video is really well done, and any fan of gore should own this film.

Rating:
Summary: Completley fake No buy No buy!
Review: There is no way anyone should buy this video. If there was the 0-stars-drop-kick-this-video I'd pick it. All scenes are professionally done...when I mean professional I am not hinting at any form of talent whatsoever..I mean not real amatuer like the box promises. Pathetic plots, effects, and length make this the most pathetic shockumentary of all time. the end.

Rating:
Summary: Ferbus, Garny, and Zeno's Des Morts (Of the Dead)
Review: This French documentary shuns the usually sleazy world of mondo docs like "Faces of Death" and tries to show how different parts of the world view death.

The major problem here is that time and time again, the three directors slip into shocking footage, and the unshocking footage is especially dull.

The film opens with an American preparing a body for embalming. We then switch to a very long segment in Thailand, as a family prepares to bury a dead relative. The grandmother lies in a hut for three days, decomposes, and is finally buried, but not before we witness the graphic killing of four oxen.

The film makers also visit Belgium, Nepal, and South Korea, juxtaposing scenes between what we would consider shocking treatment of the dead, and scenes of how Americans treat their terminally ill and dying.

The film makers rally around their point, saying "see, we are not all that different," and then proceeds to grind the viewers face into this boring little statement for an hour and forty five minutes.

After some interviews with some American muscular dystrophy patients, who talk about how they want to be buried or cremated, the film makers unwisely show a Filipino revolutionary executed by a former friend, before being dumped into a shallow grave.

"Death" is kind of a big topic to trim into a little documentary. There is no narrator or central idea, save the "we aren't so different" rigamarole, so scenes drag on forever in between the carnage.

If you like those shockumentaries like "Faces of Death," God have mercy on your soul and I feel sorry for you. But not half as sorry as I am for renting this mess. I do not recommend the deadening dull "Des Morts."

This is not rated, but contains strong graphic physical violence, strong graphic gore, male nudity, sexual references, and strong graphic adult situations. Remember, all the footage here is real, and children (and most adults) should not view this.