Into the Night: Portraits of Life and Death (2017)

We don't know how. We don't know when. But death comes for us all. To be human is to wrestle with this truth and with the great unanswered question: How do we live with death in our eye? To... See full summary »

Director:

Helen Whitney

Writer:

Helen Whitney

Stars:

Sharon Stone, Gabriel Byrne, Jim Crace

Cast

Credited cast:
Sharon Stone	...	Herself - Narrator (voice)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gabriel Byrne	...	Himself
Jim Crace	...	Himself
Caitlin Doughty	...	Herself
Adam Frank	...	Himself
Max More	...	Himself
Maajid Nawaz	...	Himself
Jeffrey Piehler	...	Himself
Phyllis Tickle
Natasha Vita More	...	Herself

Storyline

We don't know how. We don't know when. But death comes for us all. To be human is to wrestle with this truth and with the great unanswered question: How do we live with death in our eye? To borrow from Dylan Thomas (whose poem opens the film): Do we go gently or raging against the dying light? Or between these two extremes? Do we depart with equanimity or with anger? With clenched fists or more commonly with denial? Or do we see death as something to be fought and even possibly conquered, a challenge increasing pursued by some of the brightest scientific minds. Finally, what are the stories we tell ourselves as we go into the night - or into the light? "Awakening: Portraits of Life and Death" features fascinating, unexpected voices from various walks of life, old and young, believers and unbelievers, dying and healthy, well-known and obscure. For them death is no longer an abstraction. Whether through a dire prognosis, the imminence of their own death, the loss of a loved one, a ...

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 October 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Awakening: Portraits of Life and Death

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

It could have been interesting

Be prepared for a lot of flowery narration (including the obligatory Dylan Thomas poem, and a lot of generic comments about attitudes toward death, etc.) that give the impression the director wanted to impart some "gravitas" to the proceedings. I suppose they didn't feel the subject of death carried enough weight on it's own.

There are a series of interviews/comments by various people discussing their experience with (a relative's, their own impending, etc) or views about death, and philosophizing endlessly about same. There are a few interesting commentators, such as Maajid Nawaz, a reformed Islamist extremest who now runs a counter-extremism think tank, but, overall, the majority are not that compelling, and their thoughts are so common that there wasn't a need to put them on film.

What you have here is a documentary made by someone who wishes they were directing narrative films, and thus tries to imbue a sense of Great Significance.

In case you thought it might be a focus, only one subject discusses a near-death experience.