Errol Morris made his directing debut with Gates of Heaven, a documentary about how people dispose of the remains of animal loved ones in a Southern California community. The ostensible premise may be the people behind the pet cemteries, but it becomes a jumping off point to delve into their lives, personal philosophies, relationships and communities. The documentary becomes a meditation of the nature of life and death. It received tons of accolades from critics and probably landed on a number of top documentaries lists, which is probably how it ended up in my queue.
I’m too damn old to keep falling for this trick. I am old enough to know what I like and what I don’t like. I don’t like movies where fictional animals die so why would I want to watch Gates of Heaven, but I would also like to think of myself as open-minded enough to be able to enjoy something if it is done well. Unfortunately I completely forgot that I don’t think that I’m a fan of Morris’ work. The reasons may vary, but I usually finish his documentaries vaguely dissatisfied. Do I remember this fact when I’m putting one of his movies in my queue or am about to press play on my remote control? No. I rationalized that the movie is only eighty-five minutes long so it was not a big deal, which it wasn’t, but it was a complete waste of my time because it skipped off of me like water on a duck’s back. It made no lasting impression and given time it will completely evaporate.
I don’t know if there is ever a good time to watch Gates of Heaven, but the worst time may be the weekend before one of your two beloved cats goes into surgery for her first mastectomy, or maybe it is the best time because I was already depressed thinking of my fluffy babies’ mortality. At any rate, it is easy to predict whose side I would be on during my viewing of the documentary: the first cemetery owner who is all heart and not a lick of business sense, the rendering plant manager who is all business and no heart, or the successful cemetery family who manage to balance both with one foot over the abyss.
People are eager to confide in Morris and his camera completely heedless of the fact that later others may discover what they thought. When Gates of Heaven was made in 1978, it is not like now when most people realize that their visual depiction could be consumed and decide knowingly what their brand will be. These people lose themselves in their audible contemplations, which had me question the interviewing ethics of this documentary with the exception of the ex-insurance salesman, who appears to be hyperaware of the impression that he wants to make even if he fails to cut as impressive or inspirational figure as he wants.
I’m a proud, crazy cat lady, and at the end of the day, other than the initial interviewee, I was frustrated by the lack of sheer steely-eyed, intense focus on their fluffy babies. My people are more like the Turkish cat lovers in Kedi who could talk about one specific cat for hours while casting themselves as a supporting character. If some people think that they loved their pets too much, I’m more horrified that they still think of them as pets, but maybe because the majority of people lived with dogs, not cats. You don’t own a cat. They choose you, and if you don’t, God help you! The reason that I adored Can You Ever Forgive Me? was her recognition that her deepest connection was with her cat regardless of how it looked to others or how she felt about it. It simply was. Even in the face of death, these people still are not conscious of the role that this animal played in their life, the role that they played in the animal’s life, which part of their relationship is possibly projection and which part could be objectively real and how much of it is stubbornly unknowable, the communication gap between species. There is something unbearably sad about the unexamined life. They are not fully alive not because they are lonely for human contact or because they have subconsciously projected too much on their fluffy ladies.
Gates of Heaven reveals that they are pathetic because they failed to fully be aware and aggressively proud that they discovered a basic truth of life: humanity fails in comparison to animals. Humans must demand that other human beings live up to the standard experienced fully in interactions with animals: the enthusiasm, the honesty, the joy or horror. Human interactions are bewildering because there is the experience, the intention, the artifice and the impact, but it is rare for all these factors to overlap even when we want them to. We are the problem, but they give us attention and, if we are lucky, love, anyway.
If you’re a fan of Errol Morris’ documentaries, then definitely check out Gates of Heaven, but for me, I wanted to shake most of the people in it. Your son sucks, but I wouldn’t necessarily want to visit your passive aggressive self anyway. Stop grief checking that chick because you’re jealous of her and let her be angry. Stop putting your dog on the spot. This isn’t American Idol! Y’all are so lucky, and you have no idea.