the departure

i wont blame you if you thought the show that I watched entitled 'the departure' to the be leonardo dicaprio 'the departed' which is the hollywood version of 无间道。

as a matter of fact, it isnt, and far from what you think it is, its actually a japanese movie. its called 送り人。and as you can read from the kanji, it has elements of sending someone away. and yup. i guess u got it. its about sending people away to their after life.

this guy who was a cellist for an orchestra, was out of a job when his orchestra disbanded due to poor sales. so he went back to his hometown, away from tokyo to start his new life, peaceful and stuff. but he needed a job, and by some turn of events took up a job which is to put on makeup and put the body of dead people into coffins.

at first he was scrutinised by friends and girlfriend about the job, by people didnt understand what it means to be in that unconventional job. but satisfaction came from seeing the different emotions people have when sending a loved one away. sometimes it could be a tragic accident, sometimes it could be a natural death and the younger generation would say things like 'its been a tiring journey, time to get some peace'. and yet sometimes, you get people thanking you for a job well done, for making their loved one look beautiful and have one final sayonara said to them with dignity. the story ended when his gf came back to ask him to quit a final time, when he got a call, regarding the death of the old lady who managed the public bath whom they both visited when they were there. his girlfriend, for the first time, went to where he performed the cleaning of the body, and was moved to see that the job that she detested actually brought dignity to the lady whom they both admired and respected so much, and her heart was moved. and the story went on to where he got a call about his long lost father who passed away....