Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows two crematorium technicians describing the process of cremation and detailing what happens to the body during the procedure. The clip opens with a shot of a casket being slid into a cremation furnace and then cuts between the technicians, each of whom is filmed standing in front of a furnace. The clunking and hissing sounds of the operating furnaces echo through the crematorium and provide an eerie backdrop.

Educational value points

• Director David Caesar and researcher Chris Pip spent 7 months talking to people 'who make a living out of dead bodies’, from pathologists to embalmers and gravediggers, before making the documentary Body Work. The film traces what happens to a dead body from the time of death to burial or cremation, and depicts the range of people involved in the process. It not only attempts to satisfy the viewer’s curiosity about a subject that is largely taboo in contemporary society, but also sets out to demystify it.

• In Australia, cremations now outnumber burials, with about 54 per cent of Australians who die each year being cremated. (In comparison, the UK figure is a little more than 70 per cent.) During the late 19th century in Australia, a cremation movement campaigned for cremation on public health, economic and land-use grounds, even though the Christian belief in the resurrection of the dead influenced the majority preference for burial. States did not legislate to allow cremation until after the 1890s, with New South Wales passing a Bill only in 1925. Australian multiculturalism of the mid-20th century also introduced multifaith religious practices, including cremation.

• Cremation is an ancient practice that involves the disposal of a body by fire. Today, cremations are carried out at a crematorium in a furnace called a cremation chamber or retort. During the cremation process the cremation technicians can adjust temperature controls to regulate the speed at which the body burns. It takes 1–3 hours to burn a body at about 900 degrees Celsius, and the cremation chamber is designed to fit one casket.

• As described in the clip, the casket is placed in the chamber where it is exposed to intense heat and flame that burns everything except bone fragments and any non-combustible materials, such as jewellery, dental gold or prostheses. The non-combustible materials are discarded or returned to the family when the cremated remains are removed from the chamber, after which the bone fragments are milled down to fine particles in a grinder. These particles, referred to as 'ashes’ or 'cremains’, are usually white in colour and weigh about 2 kg.

• In the clip, two crematorium technicians describe their work. Crematorium technicians carry out cremations and are responsible for ensuring that the identity of the dead person is maintained throughout the process, as well as attending to the storage and disposal of the cremated remains. They also clean and prepare the chapel before the funeral service and check that the cremation ovens are operating safely.

• The graphic but detached way in which the two technicians describe the stages the body goes through during cremation suggests that for them dealing with corpses has become commonplace and that they no longer see dead bodies as disturbing. Placing the two men in front of operating cremation furnaces may border on the macabre, but the men’s candour has the effect of normalising this process. Caesar filmed his subjects at work because he believed a 'person’s environment tells you an enormous amount about them’.

• The clip exemplifies David Caesar’s work as a filmmaker. After graduating from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, Caesar made Living Room (1988), about life in the suburbs, and Body Work (1988), which won the award for Best Documentary at the Melbourne Film Festival in 1989. his feature films, including Idiot Box (1996), Mullet (2000) and Dirty Deeds (2002), have tended to focus on ordinary characters in everyday settings and to explore the dilemmas facing contemporary Australian men. Caesar has also written and directed extensively for television.

• Body Work is an example of a documentary distributed by Ronin Films, a company established in 1974 to distribute independent and foreign language films, particularly films not shown in mainstream cinemas. It has concentrated on the distribution of documentaries that explore social issues in creative and stimulating ways, making these available through theatrical release, but also to educational institutions, community groups and government departments. Ronin Films has championed the work of Australian producers and directors such as David Caesar.