Gates of Heaven, 1978 - ★★★½
Viewed as part of my "Beware the Docs of March Marathon 1". Its a well established point of view that most pets are bought to teach ourselves about death, Errol Morris talking head styled documentary runs away with this idea. It focuses on the setting up of a pet cemetery, its closure then relocation of its 450 pets to another area.
"Gates of Heaven" successfully manages to not only cover the owners and workers of the cemetary and the awkwardly odd, usually lonely world of the pet lovers who've lost their little furry friends. But also the reason why humans have the need of pets. Most the memorable insights come from the relocated cemetery owner Calvin Harberts, like his view that the rise in modern pet popularity is down to the introduction of the pill, and do his patrons animals go to heaven. The end is amusing and charming, featuring the grave digger playing his electric guitar looking over the cemetery then to quirky trinkets people had left behind (a nice ploy by Morris, to leave his audience with a smile).
Originally taken from Letterboxd
"Mountains won't grow, but men always will."
Dan Harberts
"Gates of Heaven" successfully manages to not only cover the owners and workers of the cemetary and the awkwardly odd, usually lonely world of the pet lovers who've lost their little furry friends. But also the reason why humans have the need of pets. Most the memorable insights come from the relocated cemetery owner Calvin Harberts, like his view that the rise in modern pet popularity is down to the introduction of the pill, and do his patrons animals go to heaven. The end is amusing and charming, featuring the grave digger playing his electric guitar looking over the cemetery then to quirky trinkets people had left behind (a nice ploy by Morris, to leave his audience with a smile).
Originally taken from Letterboxd
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