Wherever human life is deemed sacred and minimally protected a stable and objective judiciary system, people have a pretty warped perception of death. Young men sports tattoos that say things like ''death before dishonor'' or that look like this. Somewhere along the path of life, the idea has been package wrapped as a romantic fantasy and sold to kids. I, unfortunately, do not escape my own criticism. Not many movies document death with the thoroughness SERVING LIFE did. The word ''life'' is in the title, but that movie is all about death. Real death. The one you're most likely to find in this society. The one, great equalizing factor between you and life sentenced prisoners.
About one adult out of eighty-six is in jail, in Louisiana. It is the prison capital of the world. The Louisiana State Penitentiary, better known as ''Angola'' hosts a good chunk of them. It used to be one of the most brutal places in America, but since warden Burl Cain took over the place, it mellowed out quite a bit. As a measure to adapt to the aging of prison community, he created the ''hospice'' wing, where dying inmates receive palliative care from other inmates, are guaranteed not to die alone and to die with the most dignity their condition can allow. SERVING LIFE is the story of four life-sentenced inmates turned into caregivers in the hospice wing and it's narrated by Forest Whitaker. So yeah, it's both wicked and really sad.
An important detail about SERVING LIFE and prison life in Louisiana in general, is that the protagonists are not exactly violent offenders. One of them witnessed a murder committed by his friend and got the exact same sentence (35 years), another one received a life sentence because of his drug habit, under the three strikes law. The two other killed someone in their youth, but have let the progressive ways of the new Angola get to them a long time ago. Watching these guys having to cope with death all-around them, stripped of any power but their own will to honor the departed, is quite moving, to tell you the truth. It's a good reminder of what it means to be human. Confronting your own powerlessness in front of the inevitable, these four guys, these four once-criminals, sacrifice the tiny sliver of comfort of their everyday life to keep company to dying men during their last moments on Earth.
It's a tough image, but there are tougher images in the movie.
The story that got to me the most was Kevin's. We meet him as he's about to learn he has terminal cancer. He knows something's wrong. He knows he's sick, yet he is 100% functional and has his doubts about movie to hospice wing. Kevin had about six weeks to live. Through his death, we could witness the entirety of the hospice program. The scene where Kevin says his last goodbyes to his also-incarcerated brother could move a rock to tears. One of the inmates sews quilts to cover the caskets of the departed, to make sure their have something of their own when they die. That inmate knows Kevin personally and seeing him sew his masterpiece for his dying friend has an unspeakable, solemn sadness. It's that kind of scene, where humanity is completely bared, that fascinates me. That innate capacity to do right by people is in everyone. I'm not being religious here, SERVING LIFE offers hard evidence of it.
You may have trouble finding information about SERVING LIFE. It's a straight-to-television documentary financed by the Oprah Winfrey Network. Don't let that fool you into thinking it's a sentimental, new-age, hallmark feel-good movie. SERVING LIFE is absolutely brutal. It's a movie about human beings and death. The redemption angle the movie is shooting for becomes less and less pertinent as you watch. I found SERVING LIFE on Netflix, which I believe it also your best shot. It's not for the squeamish, for there is raw footage of death in it, but if like me you love art best when it's a challenge, you will find what you want in SERVING LIFE. Powerful film. Both sad and uplifting.