Review: Documentary 'Obit' celebrates the life before the death

'New York Times' morgue manager Jeff Roth looks through a drawer of index cards. The morgue is where all of the paper's clippings, photos, microfilm, books and other archival materials are kept. (Green Fuse Films)

Death is a taboo topic. Most of us don’t like to talk about our own let alone anyone else’s, but for a core group of writers at the New York Times, death is what drives their craft. They are the people whose job it is to write about the very famous, and often barely famous who have died. They are the writers who make up one of the last fully-staffed Obits departments at any U.S. newspaper.

The new documentary film 'Obit' explores what their jobs entail. The responsibility is tremendous, and these writers feel the weight of that. What they also feel is a drive to be accurate and fair, and that means writing truthfully about a person’s foibles and even their felonies. As senior obituary writer Margalit Fox puts it, “We are not friends. We are not advocates. We are certainly not any sort of grief counsellor. We are reporting the news.”

But how does one condense a lifetime into 500 words? Turns out it is not that simple, and director Vanessa Gould’s film allows us to gain an appreciation for not only the task at hand but also the eloquence with which this team of journalists presents a life on paper. Gould observes some of the writers as they pore over their subjects – from conducting an interview with a recently widowed woman over the phone, to the process of selecting which photos to use, to wrestling with the tone and length of their articles.

That isn’t to say that every obituary is warmly received. “He told me to curl my fist into a tight ball and knock all my own teeth out,” said writer William Grimes of the step-son of one of his subjects.

Much of the film is shot at the writers’ desks and at meetings. Other times we hear from them in their homes, speaking directly to camera. I enjoyed these moments and felt very much like they were speaking to me. I’m new to writing about documentaries but I cannot recall many movies I have seen where this technique is employed.

Other times we are treated to rich photographic and video footage of some of the subjects of the Times’ obits. The paper’s massive catalogue of photos is staggering, as is the place where they are kept. If Gould didn’t know about “the morgue” before she started filming then bully for her. It’s easily my favourite part of the movie – getting to peer into this catacomb of cabinets, file cards and papers, and the lone man who staffs it, Jeff Roth, is as delightfully quirky as you would hope someone working in a place called “the morgue” would be.

Times’ staffer Paul Vitello sums up the task of the obit writer this way: he must use as few words as possible to say as much as possible. I would say that in 90 minutes, Gould has been able to say so very much in a film that should appeal to many. She’s shown us that an obit isn’t so much about death as it is about life. Everyone has a story, and thanks to the writers at the Times, we’re able to learn a great deal about some of the more memorable and unique people who have lived among us.

"Obit" has 4 screenings at Toronto's Hot Docs film festival.