Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality (2003)
Flight from Death is the first film to investigate the psychological The effects of death anxiety are embedded within everything we do across Flight from Death is the culmination of many years of research and
Storyline
Narrated by Gabriel Byrne (Usual Suspects, Vanity Fair, Miller's Crossing), this seven-time Best Documentary award-winning film (Silver Lake Film Festival, Beverly Hills Film Festival) is the most comprehensive and mind-blowing investigation of humankind's relationship with death ever captured on film. Hailed by many viewers as a "life-transformational film," Flight from Death uncovers death anxiety as a possible root cause of many of our behaviors on a psychological, spiritual, and cultural level. Following the work of the late cultural anthropologist, Ernest Becker, and his Pulitzer Prize-winning book Denial of Death, this documentary explores the ongoing research of a group of social psychologists that may forever change the way we look at ourselves and the world. Over the last twenty-five years, this team of researchers has conducted over 300 laboratory studies, which substantiate Becker's claim that death anxiety is a primary motivator of human behavior... Written by AnonymousReviews & Ratings for Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality (TV) More at IMDbPro »
| Index | 4 reviews in total |
19 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
super insightful movie!, 19 July 2005
Author: clarice9900 from United States
i saw this movie at the silver lake film festival and wasn't quite sure what to expect going into it but the film was thought provoking and superbly entertaining. it actually ended up winning the best documentary award at the festival and i couldn't agree more with that. i have not been able to stop thinking about this movie and have since read Denial of Death the book on which the film is based. it's an important film that everyone should see. the ideas and the way they are packaged both in the book and the film really have a way of changing the way you think and look at the world. not many films have that kind of power.
12 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
an excellent documentary, 9 October 2005
Author: guy Leboeuf from Canada
Flight from death is a "must see" documentary. I saw it three times since i've received the DVD last week and each time i discover new aspects. Images are beautiful and the commentary (narrated by Gabriel Byrne) are just outstanding. Before seeing it, i was a little bit anxious to see how they can translate in a documentary the rather complex thought of Ernest Becker. As a reader of Becker's books for many years i can tell that Patrick Sean and Greg Bennick had done a really good job. Each important parts of Becker's understanding of the impact of death anxiety on human behavior are explored and very well explained. I understand now why this documentary won seven prizes. Please do not hesitate to buy this DVD you won't regret it!
4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
An Enlightening Experience, 11 March 2009
Author: bval-3 from United States
"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." – 1 Corinthians 15:26 The fight-or-flight response can be defined as "the biological response of animals to acute stress." However, these innate, mutually exclusive responses are simply inapplicable when applied to death.
While there are both antiquated methods to "fight" death (elixirs, elaborate religious ceremonies, and herbal anti-aging treatments) and new-age approaches in pharmaceuticals and genetics, death is impossible to defeat. Therefore, when it comes to considering the cessation of one's own life, fear and denial trigger the flight response.
Taking into account that humans are the only living beings knowledgeable enough to comprehend that they are simultaneously alive and doomed to die, people express anxiety about death. In addition, people fret over deserting their loved ones and spreading sadness. What's more, apprehension occurs in the anticipation of discovering if life after death indeed exists.
Cross-culturally, men and women ponder how the world will function without them, how their family and friends will cope with their death, and how those close to them will find comfort, security, and happiness through the grief. Think about it: in the event of your death, will the company you work for crumble? Will your spouse find love again? Will your kids' kids have kids? Speaking of adolescents, a long look into the face of an infant can truly reveal the power of life. Given that the human brain has a high level of plasticity during a child's formidable years (birth to three years of age), a baby represents fearlessness, innocence, and as close to a sense of immortality as one can imagine.
This is why Patrick Shen's and Greg Bennick's documentary Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality begins with the faces of children. In its opening lines, Flight from Death asserts the fragility of human life: "To have emerged from nothing...to having a name, consciousness of self, deep inner feelings, and excruciating inner yearning for life and self-expression...and with all this, yet to die." From there, the film branches out in several directions, all of which center upon Ernest Becker's death anxiety ideology showcased in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Denial of Death. Various professors, authors, philosophers, and researchers (like Sheldon Solomon, Sam Keen, Dan Liechtry, Robert Jay Lifton, and Irvin Yalom) voice their scholarly views in support of and relation to Becker's claim that death anxiety motivates violence and aggression. The result is both thought-provoking and revealing.
Some of the very best material arrives in narrator Gabriel Byrne's (through Shen and Bennick's writing) words when he reads, "Human beings find themselves in quite the predicament. We have the mental capacity to ponder the infinite—seemingly capable of anything. Yet, housed in a heart-pumping, breath-gasping, decaying body, we are godly, yet creaturely." Likewise, Professor Sheldon Solomon exudes brilliance (through his Terror Management Theory and Mortality Salience Hypothesis) in nearly every word that leaves his lips.
At its weakest, Flight from Death loses its intimate connection when it goes global in its "Annihilation," "Looking for Evil," and "Violence Inherent" chapters. While these portions clarify the violence involved in the flight response, the segments that focus on a personal view of death anxiety are more profound than the attempts to paint the vast, cross-cultural picture.
In the long run, Flight from Death will cause you to dig deeper into the words of Ernest Becker, marinate in the thoughts of its writers, and seriously consider traveling afar to listen to the intensely engaging Professor Sheldon Solomon. It's full of beautiful images of grave sites, landscapes, and sunrises juxtaposed with brutal images of murder, violence, and outright shameful hatred. It's both eye-opening and daunting.
Just as certain as death itself, one thing's for sure: Flight from Death will never lose its relevance. At times, it's so utterly philosophical, didactic, and life-affirming that one can't help but to submit to its intrigue and run to recommend it to every fellow sentient being. After-all, "meaningful connections with other people make us feel fully alive and vibrant."
3 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
really vulgar and yields precious little in the way of content, 11 April 2010
Author: marymorrissey from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
ponderous narration that at least 70 percent of the time is saying nothing a 7 year old doesn't know: "we've reached the moon, but people still die!" is the sole point of the first 10 minutes of blabbering voice-over during which time we see probably 150 archival shots, the great benneton panorama of life dontchaknow. oh and being made post koyannisquatsi those of you who believe clichéd shots of traffic sped up and individuals in slow motion looking lugubrious (not shot in slow motion, cheaply slowed down in final cut or whatever) are really profound will be very pleased. If any or all of this had been at least done well it wouldn't be quite so bad on the most superficial aesthetic level, but every element of this film is clunky from the less than impeccable sound on the interviewees to the embarrassing attempts to create interesting backgrounds for the speakers, the framing of any shots they did and the terrible rhythms throughout supported/undermined by often questionable music choices, leaving aside any consideration of the meandering point of the damned thing.
subsequently more than any consistent notion of immortality, let alone the literal one, we pursue these sort of riffs that follow a shifting pick and choose framing of the idea, "immortality", and it's painfully transparent that this construction is nothing but an ad hoc platform for politically correctish pontificating. of the sort you don't even have to hear. you can tell how these talking heads think, most of them, simply looking at their clothing: tie dyed t shirts are the order of the day. "well if you defeat someone it's like you're immortal, kinda, the other person turns in a way out to be mortal, ya know what I mean, man?" *passes joint* then we cut to 3 minutes of tons of violent footage and corny footage and ironic footage, poignant footage of any and everything cut dismally together. don't get me wrong, I agree with the things all the people are saying in the film, it's just... this is no documentary it's not informative aside from a few details of history that some of the people cite to support their opinions. this is just a bull session of liberal guys in their 50s. Did enjoy seeing dapper Robert J. Lifton, this ascot wearing much older guy, author of "The Nazi Doctors" which I happen to have read. Another interesting author the other reviews mention whose name I forget sounds worth investigating. MAYBE the film spun out of his ideas in part or entirely but that's not clear in the least. He's introduced, his importance is acknowledged then we get back to hairy freak brothers who teach at various universities talking to the audience like undergraduates. I mean obviously it's not a fictional film, so it has to be a doc, the question is more: is it a film? this would have been just as well an article that one could have finished reading in 20 minutes at the doctors office and all the surfeit of time taken to consume this material is very sort of greedy of the makers of this movie.
I rented this cause it sounded possibly interesting and won all these prizes. I can't believe it now that must have been a bad year for doc features.
Disclosure: I turned if off after about an hour.
