Dick Johnson Is Dead - An Ode To Death

One of the perks of being a second-semester senior in college - aside from all the social aspects - is the ability to finally take courses I want to be taking, as opposed to mere prerequisites.

Among the four most interesting courses I’ve taken in my academic career is Directing The Documentary, where we as students will produce our own mini-doc to premier at the end of the semester. Of course, I needed to take this class due to my passion for the true crime genre, (yes I classify myself as a crime junkie). Other aspects of the course include analyzing and critiquing a large and diverse range of documentary films

Dick Johnson is Dead - though sounding like a crazy true crime documentary - follows filmmaker Kirsten Johnson and her father Dick Johnson, a former psychiatrist. Together the two collaborated to create a film that follows Dick Johnson as he grows older and prepares to reach the end of his life, a hard pill to swallow and an inevitable reality they both will eventually have to face. Kirsten and Dick play out different scenarios of death as well as show different ideas of afterlife as they discuss his life, stories that helped shape him as well as the people.

The concept seems so basic but inevitable. The only thing we are ever guaranteed in life is death (and taxes). But to an extent, it's true. The only thing we know for a fact is that we will experience death. Not just our own - but the death of others around us, including our parents.

I found it fascinating to watch a film about something people typically choose to avoid. Usually, conversations that center around this topic make people uncomfortable and upset. Yet here I am watching a documentary about the death of someone who hasn't died yet, who I haven't met and never will - and enjoyed it.

As the film developed, the viewer becomes fully integrated into Dick's life. From stories of childhood to testimonies from others about the man he is, to seeing his relationship with his daughter and others, the audience obtains a good sense of who this man is.

But the part of the film that impacted me the most - the one aspect I am still thinking about heavily - is less death and the aspects of getting old.

I am personally very close with my family. And for the past few years, my grandparents have gotten older. But more specifically, they have aged. Watching my parents, as well as other relatives, cope with that reality remains the part of the film I related to the most.

There was one scene where Kristen talks to the nurse who has been helping Dick, her father. The raw conversation they have where the nurse talks about other families and how she helped these people in the last years and moments of their life was a part that hit home.

The aids that have been with my grandparents in the last years of their life were some of the biggest saving graces our families could have. They met my grandparents at their lowest and heard the stories of their lives. They see them at the most vulnerable and raw points they will ever be and I think that was what the film was to me.

Raw.

The relationship between a father and daughter is so intimate, personal, and unique. And here I am, crying along with it because I see my own family in it. I see my mother caring for my Grandfather and having the same arguments or conversations. I see the hurt in Kristen’s face match my Father's when his mother started to lose her memory. I saw it all.

And seeing that it was so normal, so real, so a part of life. Having this film make death and growing old something to celebrate and embrace - instead of fear. This showed that the film was less for Dick and much more for Kristen.

Dick had come to terms with his aging and looming death. Kristen had not. She needed this movie, for herself, and to cope with the idea of her father no longer being there. Yet this film - unloading it all, exposing what the real pain is like, the emotions, and showing how they went through it, made it so much more normal for me - and that's what it comes down to. Death shouldn’t be feared. It is normal.

So instead of making it a sad story, be like Dick and make it your own story - take it back and turn it into something unique and beautiful.