The Hidden Humanity Within “Gates of Heaven” by Errol Morris

When Roger Ebert names your documentary one of the top ten best films ever made, you know you’ve done something right. Errol Morris received such a distinction for his 1978 classic, “Gates of Heaven.”

Although the film is now almost 40 years old, it still holds nuggets of truth that apply to modern life. It has aged surprisingly well, revealing a set of in-depth characters musing on what it means to be alive and why we work so hard to be remembered in death.

“Gates of Heaven” follows a struggling animal funeral director, Floyd “Mac” McClure, as he tries to keep his business afloat in a society that views pet burials as a weird, useless phenomenon. What’s striking is the utter sincerity McClure holds for his clients, many of whom simply want to give the animals they love a proper send-off. The documentary allows its subjects to speak for themselves, letting them ramble on about the meaning of life and death as a whole. It’s notable in that it looks beyond the quirkiness of the pet funeral industry, getting to the heart of why pet owners want their pets to be honored after death.

We almost never question elaborate funerals for human beings, but if someone has one for a dog, most people scoff.

Even today, the idea of giving the most beloved family pet full funeral rites is considered a bit excessive. We almost never question elaborate funerals for human beings, but if someone has one for a dog, most people scoff. This documentary turns the entire funeral practice on its head, questioning whether there really is a difference between what we do for humans after death and what we do for our pets. The subtle, underlying theme of the film is whether funerals are ever “necessary,” even for human beings.

Through these interviews, we’re left with the sense that funerals are never absolutely essential for anyone or anything, but they may be hugely beneficial to the people left behind. A dead dog doesn’t care whether it is buried behind a shed in a backyard or buried in a casket at a pet cemetery, yet the humans who mourn the dog’s death are comforted when they hold a proper funeral. In the end, funeral rites have always been about easing suffering for the living, giving people the proper space in which to remember a loved one for the last time.

Credit: smlp.co.uk

Another theme expressed in “Gates of Heaven” is the projected moralities of the interview subjects. Each person interviewed has a slightly different view on life and death. Some believe in an afterlife, usually heaven, and this philosophy bleeds into their pets’ funerals. We see their religious and philosophical beliefs distilled down to their basic forms in their attitudes towards their dead pets. This is also what lends this documentary its earnest tone, moving away from the sideshow-circus-style film that encourages viewers to point and laugh at the subjects.

The subjects are free to fully express themselves without the self-censorship many of us experience when we talk about our beliefs to a stranger.

Morris gives his subjects the opportunity to express their deep, personal values to a wide audience under the guise of cute pet stories. As a result, many of the subjects seem to be caught off guard as they talk about the beliefs that truly matter to them and shape the way they move through the world. In this way, the movie tells us more about how we think than many “heavy” films about life and death. The subjects are free to fully express themselves without the self-censorship many of us experience when we talk about our beliefs to a stranger.

For a movie about dead animals, “Gates of Heaven” does a better job of teaching us about human beings than nearly any other documentary in history.