Death Education: Review. By Josiah Teal.
Quan Jianbo is a high school teacher in China who teaches a “death education” class. The class encourages students to have open and honest conversations about death, eliminating the unknown or the taboo in favor of respectful discourse. Shot, directed, and edited by Yuxuan Ethan Wu, Death Education showcases sides of death rarely seen on film, allowing the short documentary to bridge gaps between death and the grave.
Death Education opens and spends most of its run-time focused on cremation. Wu chronicles the almost clerical process from beginning to end, allowing viewers to see the need for Jianbo’s class. Through the course of the film and since 2018, Jianbo’s students have held services for 189 unidentified people, laying their ashes to rest and giving them final respects before returning to the earth. But, beyond the students, the unknown deaths, or even the deep losses of the documentary, it is a personal story, allowing Wu himself to grieve the loss of his grandmother.
In a post-COVID world, death seems more personal and more connective than most of a pre-COVID world could imagine. Death Education blends the heavy emotions of losing a loved one with the large-scale need for open dialogues about death, dying, and loss. Ironically, it’s not the most educational film; few will walk away learning more about cremation, funeral services, or even the psychology behind death. Yet, Wu accomplishes maximum engagement with minimal dialogue and without any direct interviews. It has the spirit of a documentary but the soul of an art film. Death Education takes a reverent look at death, accepting it with sorrow, disdain, reflection, and, in finality, peace.
Directed by Yuxuan Ethan Wu
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