Gates of Heaven

Thursday, June 12, 2008

It's about time I got to watching a documentary for my K2K. Documentaries are cool and all, but I never find myself in the mood to watch them. With so much great fiction out there to see, it's hard to pull myself away. I'm the same way with books.

Errol Morris is considered pretty much the god of documentary filmmaking. I had only seen one of his movies before. The Fog of War. I think I was in high school at the time. And I'll be honest, that movie was too smart for me. I can't even remember what it was about. Something about a guy named McNamara and stuff about Vietnam? I think? I don't know, I'm not bright enough for that kind of shit. It's why I'll likely stay away from Standard Operating Procedure.

(I just looked up my rating on Netflix, and apparently I gave Fog of War 3 stars. I probably just did that to feel smart. It would be more accurate if I left it unrated.)

Morris' Gates of Heaven is much more my speed. Ostensibly, it's about people who work at pet cemeteries, but Morris tends to just let them ramble on about themselves, their lives, their philosophies. It's a real charmer.