FREE ON YOUTUBE Gates Of Heaven

FREE ON YOUTUBE - "There's your dog; your dog's dead. But where's the thing that made it move?". A central question that no philosopher has ever been able to answer. And seldom has anyone asked it better, has they? A woman who has just buried her dog pronounces these words. They form the central truth, the heart of Errol Morris Gates Of Heaven. Anyway, I have Gates Of Heaven today - once again! - looked at. What is it about? At least much more than animal cemeteries. Morris, who is not a filmmaker at all, heard about this cemetery, looked for a cameraman and spoke to the paraplegic operator of the cemetery. So the legend goes. The result is an unknown classic. One of the greatest documentaries of all time! Sure, after Gates Of Heaven, Morris was to become one of America's most famous documentary filmmakers. I started working on him in 2011. At that time I ran the Filmkunst video store, which I wanted to convert into a bar. To the Filmkunstbar Fitzcarraldo. I also wanted an avant-garde selection. With Gates Of Haven, however, I was more involved than with any other avant-garde title! I love this movie! It gets along without the narrative of participants. In two parts, interrupted by a great monologue. The first part is by Floyd McClure, who remembers the cruel experience of losing a pet when he was a child and was finally picked up by the garbage collection service. His words are of powerful intensity and delicate poetry. The enemy is the operator of the factory that recycles dead animals. That must be hell! Things happen there that we don't even want to know about (like when a giraffe dies in the zoo). But the highlight of Gates Of Heaven is the monologue by Florence Rasmussen. She sits in front of her house with a view of the animal cemetery and talks about her life. As vivid as the greatest American poets! Then we travel to Cal Harberts, who founded a church in the Napa Valley that teaches that God loves both humans and animals. Cal's wife expresses the philosophy of the church most clearly: "Surely at the gates of heaven an all - compassionate God is not going to say, well, you're walking in on two legs". Should there be a God, he would hardly presume that! Then the long monologue of a dog owner - uninterrupted. What does she advise us to do about the death of her four-legged friend? "Neutered". The perfect cinematic moment! Then the shots of the animal cemetery of the Harberts: "For saving my life." Last words to a dog. There's a lot to laugh about in Gates Of Heaven, because Morris is a master of subtle irony. But during these passages my breath falters. Too bad that the movie isn't shown in the cinemas anymore! Silence. That would capture the hall at this moment. I absolutely have to suggest to my nomadic cinema partner Werner to include Gates Of Heaven in the program! In any case, I think that the signs on the animal cemetery bear witness to great wisdom. They express the deepest human needs for love and society. It is Floy McCure who says: When I turn my back, I don't know you, not truly. But I can turn my back on my little dog, and I know that he's not going to jump on me or bite me; but human beings can't be that way." Are such people ridiculous? Because they care so much about their dogs? No, they are not.