the "Departure"

Lately, this movie kept flashing in my mind. "Okuribito" means departure. I had it watched two years ago and that was how long it took me to pen this down.

The movie started by introducing Daigo (the main actor) as an enthusiastic man, having fulfilled his dream by becoming a cellist in a symphony in Tokyo. No sooner than his first performance, events suddenly took an unfortunate turn when he received the devastating news that the group would be disbanded, which would mean leaving him jobless. Broken but comforted by his wife, both of them decided to start all over at his old hometown.

After some time of job searching, he came across a classified entitled "Departure", assuming that it was a travel-related job advertisement. Money concerns hung over his family. Left with no other options, he dropped his most desired ambition and went for the job interview halfheartedly, only to find that the job was actually for an "encoffineer" (Nokanshi) - to prepare the dead for the burial. It was an undesirable job. In fact, a "taboo" among the society. It required one to clean the body and the facial of the deceased in a ceremony immersed in tradition. In fact, in his first case, he had to endure the gruesome ordeal of working on a deceased who had passed weeks away in an unfortunate manner before she was discovered. He was physically, mentally and emotionally spent. Although, he tried his best to keep it a secret, rumor had its way to his wife. When she learnt about his new job, she could not accept it and threatened to leave him.

While his wife and others despise his job, he soon discovered a hidden passion to master the art of "Nokanshi. In the midst of dealing with the deceased, he found himself as a breach between the deceased and the living. Some complicated relationships between the deceased and the living were resolved during the ceremony. And some sour relationships were turned into joy once again. While no one understood him, they offered this level of empathy and appreciation for his work. It came at a cost.

What moved me the most was not so much of the appreciation part. Rather, it was a clip where he sat outside the open greens below the pale blue sky playing on his cello...The scene was beautiful and magical! The melodious piece of music that birth forth out of a heart of brokenness, of dying to self, of humility and a heart of gratitude made it all the more beautiful...He didn't need the inspiration to perform in an orchestra setting with full packed audience. He already had the universe listening to him even though no men were present. He had already realized his dream.

Somehow, it just reminded me of the same vision that I received on the ice skater. If you have time, i recommend you to watch this movie - "Okuribito" aka "Departure".