Alexandria Film Festival
Official Selection
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Griefwalker2008
A universal experience whether or not we can admit it, death is the sole counterpart to life. From the moment we take our first breath, death is our only guaranteed experience. This is something Stephen Jenkinson not only understands but something he loves. And he wants you to feel the same way. GRIEFWALKER, a feature length documentary by Tim Wilson, sets its lens on Jenkinson in an unforgettable exploration of death phobia as a culture. Stephen Jenkinson, a Harvard educated theologian, is one of Canada’s leading palliative care educators. Also considered a philosopher, woodsman, boatsman, and bard, Jenkinson travels throughout Canada providing grief counseling. He rejects the notion of acceptance, deeming it too neutral a disposition. He insists the one true answer is an embrace of death. In order to love life, we need to love death. Filmmaker and friend Tim Wilson presents Jenkinson with an unclouded eye. Appearing onscreen together, their relationship is complex and occasionally combative. Reverent and respectful but clearly obsessed with death, Jenkinson is an enigmatic figure who can easily shift from talkative to terse. Captured with a cinematic eye, this lyrical, haunting documentary exhibits an unparalleled understanding of mortality.
What makes this film worth watching?
4 members like this review
This film is magnificent in it's heart, mind, soul and execution. It brings true clarity & resolve to the existential being, and a sobering, quiet voice to the busy-ness of modern existence. You must all see and share it with everyone you know, and everyone you meet, while there is still time to do so. Thank you, Tim, this has changed my death -and life, forever... -MC
top reviewer
Member Reviews (11)
top reviewer
This film is magnificent in it's heart, mind, soul and execution. It brings true clarity & resolve to the existential being, and a sobering, quiet voice to the busy-ness of modern existence. You must all see and share it with everyone you know, and everyone you meet, while there is still time to do so. Thank you, Tim, this has changed my death -and life, forever... -MC
4 members like this review
top reviewer
I thought it was an absolutely phenomenal movie. I intend to watch it again several more times, as I did not get fully the entire philosophy and enlightened statements. I personally think the content is so deep, that one can learn a great deal more by viewing the film again.
1 member likes this review
Gratitude and Humility
Vivid, stunning visually, quietly rendered, searing evoking of a true human reality, mostly avoided and denied by North American culture. I want to see and hear it again, feel it in my cells, look through those eyes.
There were some very profound truths in this beautiful documentary, and some ideas that I didn't resonate with at all. The idea of carrying death with us ... well, I feel the sense and power of that and I will watch this again so that it can sink in some more.
wonderful film
Thought-provoking, heart-expanding film exploring our present day limitations on the topic of dying. How can we integrate our dying with our living? How can we truly feel gratitude when we do not open our eyes to our dying? Watch and listen, question and respond. Are you alive?
exquisite.
Beautiful movie, important topic. Highly recommended.
wonderful
A beautiful and thoughtful look at how our dying deserves to be held each moment of our lives, and how our grief makes us human.