Week 22: Gates of Heaven
-"When I turn my back, I don't know you, not truly, but
I can turn my back on my little dog and I know that he's not going to jump on me or bite me. But human beings can't be that way." -Floyd McClure
The best friends you will ever have are those that you are able to share your deepest thoughts with. I am not referring to how the weather is, what your career or familial paths are, or anything else you would put in your Facebook status update. I am speaking of the big questions. Is there an afterlife? What is life? Do we have a purpose? Is there a god? What if there's not? Am I alone in the universe? One might say that these are the questions that matter. The way people answer them says more about who they are than any other thing they can say about themselves. These are the questions that are the same, regardless of race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation or nationality. The answers may be different, but the big questions will always be the same- they are our lowest common denominator.
In my adolescence I was a hard-boiled atheist, completely sold on my belief that there was not a god (or GOD if you'd like). As I've grown older I have become less stubborn when it comes to my beliefs (or lack thereof). I have come to realize that even if god does not tangibly "exist," the notion of a deity is still alive and well in the billions of people that believe on this planet. It is a force to be reckoned with- as powerful as the force of gravity or inertia. We look for meaning, companionship, love and assurance- the deepest of human emotions. We spend most of our lives internalizing these questions and trying to understand what may never be understood.
I have never heard the mystery of life summed up in a better way than in Errol Morris's Gates of Heaven, a documentary about pet cemetaries. In the last five minutes of the film the camera is focusing on a nameless couple. They are speaking of their beloved dog that just passed away. There is not a tear in the woman's eyes as she explains life's great mystery in the simplest terms I have ever heard:
"After all, there's your dog; your dog is dead.
But where's the thing that made it move?
It had to be something didn't it?"
The film tells a singular story broken into two parts, separated by an ingenious monologue. In the early 1970's a man named Floyd McClure lost his beloved Collie. Deciding that it is not right to dispose of beloved pets in heartless way, he seeks the financing to develop a pet cemetery in San Alto, CA. The picture opens with McClure, confined to a wheelchair, telling the story of his dog. McClure spent some of his youth around rendering plants, which he equates to a layer of hell. "Animals are not meant to be discarded like pieces of trash, they deserve better" he says with firm conviction. Although the man speaks plainly it is clear that he is passionate with his words. The pet cemetery is the work of his life.
McClure's story is intercut with interviews featuring the investors of the pet cemetery. About fifteen minutes into the film, before McClure informs the audience, we know that the pet cemetery has been a failed business venture. We can tell it based on the words that the other interviewees are using. The investors are speaking in the past tense and referring to McClure almost apologetically. McClure and his investors have created a failed business model and there is no way the cemetery will turn a profit. There are harsh legal proceedings and the investors involved lost their life savings. In the end of the brilliant opening sequence we see McClure, sitting under the same tree, speaking of his dog again. He gives the quote at the beginning of this review.
The middle of the film is an incredible monologue by a woman named Florence Rasmussen. It is roughly five minutes long, and only about 45 seconds of the monologue are even about the topic of the documentary. She sits in her easy chair in the doorway of her home. She speaks about the cemetery, and her "condition" and her life's goals. She discusses her son, how he has treated her and what that means to her. We can't tell if she is happy or despondent- but we know she is being honest. The sequence is one of the most beautiful monologues I have ever seen. The woman contradicts herself, forgets her thoughts, and strings subjects together with random precision. This is the kind of footage that can only be captured in the moment. Morris is wise because he keeps the film rolling.
-The great monologue
The animals from the original pet cemetery in San Alto are relocated to the Bubbling Well Pet Memorial Park in Napa Valley, owned by the Halberts family. We get to know the Halberts. The father, Cal, seems to be a wise man that wants the best for his customers. He offers them peace for their animals- a resting place of scenic beauty. He speaks of his religion and spirituality and seems to be decent- yet ambitious. Cal has two sons, Phillips and Danny. Danny, the youngest, lives on the property and works at the memorial park as second in command. He speaks of his lost love, his college experiences, and what it means to be happy. He spends a lot of time playing his guitar and listening to records. While it is not spoken of, we see a large amount of marijuana growing in his window. He is the rebel, the liberal, the lost soul of the family.
Phillip is the exact opposite. A failed insurance sales manager, he has came home to help the small family business. He is third in charge, after his younger brother, and you can tell he resents every part of it. He speaks to the camera in a manner of false authority. He brags of his sales techniques and experience, as well as the importance of positive mental energy. We see his office, lined with trophies from sales competitions. It is clear that Phillip is the yin to Danny's yang- the leader, the conservative, the opportunist.
-Love and loss
Finally there are the pet owners. Some of them seem ridiculous. They spend great deals of money on their pets, dress them up and bury them. They bring pictures to show the camera. They all seem a little crazy, a tad eccentric. Are they? No. They are people that have lost their beloved pets- and they mourn them. Most of them are older, probably either without children or with children long gone. These are people seeking the most simple and primitive of human emotions- to love and be loved. We see it in their faces and read it on the headstones:
"Our precious love"
"Forver in our hearts."
"Rest in thine, sweet memory, ours."
"I knew love-I had this Dog."
"God spelled backwards is Dog."
"For saving my life."
When Errol Morris made Gates of Heaven he knew absolutely nothing about filmmaking. He read the story about the San Alto cemetery being relocated and collaborated with his photographer friend, Ned Burgess, to make a film about it. Since then he has become one of America’s most celebrated documentarians. Each of his films explore their subjects fully and honestly. The people he is interviewing look directly at the screen- into our eyes. His work is interesting, bizarre and unprecedented. This film, along with Morris’s The Fog of War, Barbara Kopple’s Harlan County USA and Steve James’s Hoop Dreams are some of the greatest films America has ever produced. There is beauty in truth. I love all of these pictures (and more) but Gates of Heaven stands in a class of its own.
The film is extremely simple and complicated at the same time- a visual contradiction. I have seen the picture at least ten times and still know if Morris is meaning to be comedic or dramatic. I watched the picture last over a year ago in a time of my life riddled with doubt and uncertainty. At that point in my life the movie nearly brought me to tears. Watching the film this morning in a different light made me realize how truly bizarre it is. Instead of weeping there were times when I laughed hysterically at some of the things the people were saying. It is that rare type of picture that can encompass the broad span of human emotion.
There is a dichotomy in the characters. There is the rendering company manager, who speaks in blunt, rational terms opposing the man who believes the animals should be treated as humanely as possible- before and after death. This could signify the battle of reason vs. faith. There are the two cemeteries, one broke, one prosperous. There are the two brothers, Danny and Phillip- one liberal, one conservative. One of the best images of the film shows the hand of Floyd McClure drawing an image of a heart over a dollar sign. He speaks of love over money. It sure as hell seems like our nation has had this conversation a lot over the last two years.
These are the big questions I spoke of earlier. Gates of Heaven is a great film- a masterpiece, because it asks us to explore them. At the end of the picture we sit and think about how we feel about it- and we don't know. There is assurance in the unknown, not fear. Where is the thing that moves us? It has to be something- doesn't it?
Footnote: The Bubbling Well Pet Memorial Park is still in Napa, and flourishing.
www.bubbling-well.com
Review and Analysis by Shaun Henisey
Credits:
Metro Goldwyn Meyer and IFC Films present A Film by Errol Morris.
Photographed by Ned Burgess. Edited, Produced and Directed by Errol Morris.