This short film is about a company called Trauma Scene Restoration--whose job it is to clean up following the discovery of a grisly death. While this makes the short a bit tough for some viewers to watch, the way the women describe their job as a public service hooked me--after all, as they put it, you would hate to have family members do this clean up work on their own loved ones. There are two different versions of this short--an abbreviated one on Eva Saks' website (the creator of this short) and I found a longer version on Babelgum's web site. The longer version is more graphic and as a result is a bit tougher to watch.
It's interesting to hear these ladies talk about their company and you see them going through a typical day--though fortunately the footage isn't very graphic. Following this lengthy segment is a shorter portion that is like a separate film in many ways. Now, in this second portion, you learn that these ladies are partner in more ways than one and they have since married.
The film was constructed very well and showed a lot of style. During the portion on body clean-up, clips from the 1950s and the opening song from "The Andy Griffith Show" were used in order to both lighten the mood (which it sorely needed) and to illustrate that despite the oddness of the job, it is a family-style business. Then, to switch the way it did to a piece on gay marriage was interesting and clever. Though I suspected they were a couple, this was only alluded to in the first portion. Now that you've come to like them and see them as important parts of the community you also learn that they're non-traditional in yet another way--yet still decent and very likable people. A nice and interesting juxtaposition.
A weird but extremely well-made film.
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