This is a Bergen Film Club podcast.
Hello and welcome back to The Real Thing. I'm your host Joe Lawrence and here we are episode 9.
So The Real Thing is an extension of Bergen Film Club which is an independent cinema at the heart
of Bergen, Norway. The film club's main goal is giving a voice to those who deserve it,
revealing insights into unknown cultures and showing awesome cool movies. In this podcast,
I talk about the films that are included in the film club's extensive programs of films,
past, present and future. And today we are talking about a very cozy, strange, cool film. It's Errol
Morris's Gates of Heaven. This was a really fun episode to talk about because it was very cozy,
I suppose, and despite it's sort of talking about like death, capitalism and dead pets,
but it's a lot more wholesome than you would first think, I think. So definitely really excited for
you guys to hear the interview that we have coming up. I spoke with one of the board members from
Bergen Film Club and she had some really great insights and it was very cozy and fun. Just to
start off, we have some Bergen Film Club news. On Sunday the 14th of May, we are showing the movie
A Human Position which is directed by Norway's own Anders Aldenblom. And he is coming to do
like a live Q&A and showing up the film. So that's going to be really exciting. So if you're around
in Bergen on May 14th, then come and check that out because that's going to be really awesome.
To have the director there and maybe even something special for the podcast. So yeah.
And the film seems really lovely. It follows this couple, Asta and Liva. While Asta is trying to go
back to her old job in a local newspaper, she stumbles on a case about an asylum seeker that's
being evicted after living in Norway for 10 years. This case ends up altering her understanding of
who she is and what her life is and what she wants from it. And then, yeah, like I said, after the
screening Anders Aldenblom will be joining for a conversation afterwards as well and presenting
his own film. Which is a really special and unique opportunity. So it's going to be really cool to
have him there. Otherwise, things have been going pretty cool for the podcast. It's still continuing
to be a lot of fun and I really still appreciate everyone who's listening. You right now, who's
listening right now. Hi, thank you. It's very cool. And the support from Bergen Film Club and
everyone else is just very cool. I'm having a blast. I hope that that's communicated well
through the episode. So before we get started with this episode about Gates of Heaven,
let's start with some recommendations as we always do. So I'm starting with a TV recommendation
because I'm back and watching TV again. I was going to recommend this Norwegian TV show called
Scum, which I just started watching after being here for like two years. People have been recommending
it to me the whole time. But I don't think that I'm necessarily going to recommend that because I
you know, I think a lot of people listening on Norwegian and there's no... like you guys have seen
it. I don't need to tell you about it. But for those who haven't seen it, Scum is like... it's
about a group of high school students in Oslo basically just following their problems of like
school, love, bullying, whatever. But it's essentially like the blueprint for so many shows
that are also like really, really good. I guess for any UK listeners or people have seen it,
it's very much like Skins. But because it's sort of like Scum is like the blueprint or like the
precedent, it is really good. I mean, I'm only like four episodes in. But the acting is great.
And I love the dialogue is really good in Norwegian. And yeah, it's great. Don't let
the language barrier stop you from enjoying an amazing TV series. It's very good. No idea
where it's available outside of Norway. But try and watch it if you can. But okay, that sounded
like a recommendation, but it wasn't. What I'm going to recommend is a TV show that I have been
watching on Netflix called The Glory. And it is just... it's one of the best TV shows that I've
ever seen genuinely. I am enjoying it so much. It's set in Korea. And it follows a young woman
who was bullied or abused to the point of deciding to drop out of school. She plans,
basically then spends the next 20 years of her life figuring out the best way to get
revenge on her bullies who were also high school students. So she's just been working on getting
as much money as possible over the next 20 years and planning every single facet of her revenge
story. And it's just so exciting. And the acting is brilliant. And the story and the pacing is
also fantastic. I was kind of skeptical because it's 16 episodes. And each episode is like an
hour. But I just want to say the voice that there is no need to be afraid of that. Because it's
exciting and riveting. And you just have so much... you're really, really rooting for this main
character. You just want her to destroy the lives of these bullies. It's kind of like a played out
trope of maybe someone who grew up with very little money getting revenge on the upper class.
But it's done in such a way that really just highlights it in a way that I haven't really
seen before. And it's just so good. It's so malicious and evil and seedy. But I love revenge,
getting revenge. I love that, the concept of it. I guess I don't think I've ever gotten revenge
on anyone in real life. But it's like watching my dreams come true on the screen. And it's just
really fantastic. So yet again, if you are an English speaking person... nah, if you are English,
basically, if you're English American, don't let the language stop you. It's like Bong Joon-Ho said,
don't let those little text characters prevent you from seeing something amazing. So definitely
check out The Glory on Netflix because I am just eating it up. I'm about halfway through and I
can't wait to see what happens next. It's great. Okay, and then for a movie recommendation, I
watched Shiver Baby a couple weeks ago now, I guess, maybe last week. And this follows a character
called Danielle, who while she's at a Jewish funeral service with her parents, she has like
an awkward encounter with her sugar daddy and her ex girlfriend. Basically, she goes to the beginning
of the film, sees her with her sugar daddy, and then she goes to this funeral and then he arrives
with his wife and child. And she's also... her family are quite discouraging of her bisexuality
and her ex girlfriend is there. So then it's like chaos ensues. But the dialogue is incredible in
the film and it's filmed in this incredibly claustrophobic way, which really highlights the
stress that I guess you can feel when you are in a very small contained family environment. Everyone
wants to know what you're doing and checking up on you and stuff. And maybe if you don't necessarily
have a lot of stuff to say, then it's kind of embarrassing and it's just very good. And I think
all my Gen Z listeners out there will love this film because I watched this and I got like,
whatever the equivalent of gender euphoria is for being Gen Z. I felt so seen in this film,
I felt so understood. Just on the concept of being Gen Z and kind of like the stress of being
a person that we get hated on a lot for. So it was very exciting. Really well shot, really well
directed and really well acted. So I recommend that. Shiver baby, wherever you can find it.
Yeah, those have been my recommendations for the week. Let's get into episode nine. Today we are
talking about Errol Morris's 1978 documentary Gates of Heaven. So yes, here we are to talk about the
directed by Errol Morris American documentary Gates of Heaven from 1978. This film is essentially
about the pet cemetery business. So a little bit about the director and also just kind of launching
from there. Gates of Heaven launched Morris's career and is now considered absolute classic.
In 1991, the beloved film critic Roger Ebert, who we talk about a lot on the podcast, named it one
of the best 10, named it one of his best 10 films ever in his list that he made for Sound
Sound. But Morris is known for making quite exceptional and unusual films. For example,
a film fast, cheap and out of control interweaves the stories of a wild animal trainer, a topiary
gardener and a robot scientist and a naked mole rat specialist. And his other films include The
Thin Blue Line and A Brief History of Time. So essentially, it's just, he has a lot of,
his filmography spans a lot of topics and genres that like, just kind of prove and show the testament
of what an incredible filmmaker he is, like he understands the human condition so well,
I think, that he's able to make documentaries on such wildly different topics. And he's been
called a master of using the camera to draw the truth from his interview subjects. So just because
like many of his other works, this film is un-narrated and the stories are told purely
through interviews. And he does it in a way which we're going to talk about in the upcoming
interview I had with our guest, is he sort of just lets them talk and talk and that's,
he allows the words that they use to sort of become like the building blocks of the
documentary, which is very cool. For financing of this film, Morris borrowed money from his
family and friends and the film was shot throughout spring and summer of 1977 with a
total estimated budget of $125,000. Production was difficult at times with Morris frequently
clashing with his cinematographer of the film's visual style. He ultimately ended up firing three
cinematographers before setting on Ned Burgess with whom he would work again on his second film,
Vernon, Florida. In terms of reception, noted director Werner Herzog pledged that he would
eat his own shoe if this film, which has such an improbable subject matter, was completed and
shown in a public theater. I'm going to save that little tidbit for the interview, but as we know,
the film became very well liked and well received so he did in fact do that, but again we come to
talk about that in the interview. Roger Ebert said, the film they made has become an underground
legend, a litmus test for audience who cannot decide if it is serious or satirical, funny or
sad, sympathetic or mocking. And I think that's like the beauty of this documentary in a way is
that it is, it kind of can only really be defined as bittersweet I guess. There are so many happy
and sad things and you kind of don't really know how to feel about it. It initially focuses on
moral conflict between those who would have dead parents surrendered in Talo and those who would
rather have them buried or cremated. Like there's your dog, your dog's dead, but where's the thing
that made it move? It had to be something, didn't it? Is one of the quotes. So it's like a kind of
spiritual conflict as well as talking about sort of like the capitalistic nature of a pet cemetery
and those who stand to sort of benefit it. It's truly about dichotomy. It explores levels of which
people love and care for their pets in this world or the next and those who think of them as garbage
that need to be processed somewhere, which is one of the things that it focuses on. In the first half
of the movie it's people who like come and collect and dispose of pets, basically kind of the
contrast between wanting to have like a funeral or just like throw it away like garbage. It is
also more about more than just pets but how people can turn these emotional connections into business
enterprises and whether they do so out of combustion or in order to lie in their own pockets
basically. So it's just a yeah it's a really interesting and lovely film and now it's time
to get to the interview. I'm excited, very excited for people to hear this. So we were joined by
Anna Hredök who is one of my fellow board members at the film club. She is very cool, very nice and
we had a great conversation about this film. She chose this to have on our Autumn 2022 program and
very excitingly this was our first ever outdoor interview. So that was very very fun and yeah
hope you enjoy it. Here is my conversation with Anna about Gates of Heaven. Okay hello Anna. Hello.
So nice to have you on the podcast. Thank you for having me. Yeah and exciting our first ever
outside podcast. Yeah this is probably the nicest day this year in Bergen. Yeah definitely and I
think this film requires a like contemplative calm environment to discuss it so I think being
outside is nice. Yeah so we're talking about the Errol Morris directed movie Gates of Heaven. So
I'll just stop asking you why did you like this movie? It's in one way it's an easy answer but
it's also like I find it the first time I saw it I found it very challenging actually to sit through.
It's very short, it's one hour and 20 minutes. Okay. But it's still it feels pretty long but I
think what kind of won me over is the fact that it's incredibly charming. It starts with like a
frame of a man sitting below a huge tree and then the film kind of starts and then each frame is sort
of a it looks like a photograph almost it's kind of campy in a very good way. Yeah. So it's kind of
nice to look at it's it's slow it's pretty cozy filled with a lot of weird people. Yeah. Weird
characters and then at the end after you're sort of sucked through a lot of interviews and you're
not quite sure where it's going while you're watching it when it's done I had the feeling
that oh yeah that was kind of a whole experience. It was sort of yeah a full then I kind of understood.
Like the full circle moment at the end of the film. Yeah. I'm quite a unique position for this movie that I've
only seen half of it because I saw it in the cinema when you programmed it but I due to illness had
to leave in the middle of the movie. So I don't know that I got that like full circle moment but
I did think at least because the beginning is almost like a historical recap of this story of
what happened to this man's pet cemetery and I thought that was very interesting but I suppose
if it sort of changes to be sort of interviewing these weird people then I guess it could be seen
as like meandering. Yeah. I think I'm guessing that you've already talked about it in the intro.
Yeah. But it's a sort of interview led documentary. So it's only interviews no voiceover and no
questions. So it's only the people being interviewed talking. Yeah. And I think Errol Morris has this very
unique interview style that he just lets them talk and then often they contradict themselves
or they say a lot of weird stuff and then it's suddenly incredibly profound because they've kind
of just they're just talking. So I think that's probably the meandering part. The documentary
doesn't tell you what it's about. I guess so there's not the voiceover telling you now we're
going to talk to this person because they did this. Yeah. It's sort of tough to hear them talk
and then they digress and talk about something a bit different. Yeah. I guess that makes you get like
such a better insight into who they are as a person if they're not like stuck to set regiment
questions. But Errol Morris is a very interesting guy like through the research that Ingrid and
Momino have done. Yeah. Like his filmography is so strange to me. Like it just it says like he did
this Gates of Heaven movie which is like yeah pet cemetery about what it is to have a pet and that
spiritual connection and then the thin blue line which is like about the black place brutality
from what I understand and then a Stephen Hawking documentary and something else and then he sort of
was like yeah I'm done. That's it. But Gates of Heaven was his first film. Yeah which is
insane. Yeah. Honestly because it's so good and so mature I guess. It's a very it has a very
distinct visual style which maybe isn't that normal when you do your first film. It doesn't
yeah it feels like it feels like he's very sure about what he wanted it to look like. Yeah. Then
it looks like that. Because from what I understand he was like kind of working around film people
for quite a long time. So he was definitely like seems like he was cultivating an idea that he had
for a long time. So maybe that's why he has some like a short vision. Yeah. But he also was working
with and around that German dude. Herzog. Yeah. So I think that working with such a strange man as he
then I think it's true maybe can be inspired. But you programmed the Herzog It's His Shoe. Yes.
Which is also a great documentary. So Werner Herzog It's His Shoe is a short documentary made by Les
Blanc. Because so that the mythos the myth is that Errol Morris was struggling to finish the film
I guess. And then Herzog told him that if he manages to finish it and then screen it in like
a public place public cinema then he would cook and eat his shoe at the screening. Yeah. Which is
a very Herzog thing to do. Yes. I guess you could say. Quite extreme and weird. Yes. Yeah. And then
Errol Morris finishes the film. I think he did. So Werner Herzog It's His Shoe is a documentary
about Werner Herzog slow cooking and then eating his favorite walking shoes. And he's like hunting
down the best flavors. Yeah. He talks a lot about cooking. The fact that he is looking forward to
it. Yeah. To cook his shoe. Yeah. Every grown man should cook once a week he says. So. Yeah. That's
good advice. Yeah. He's doing that. He has some leek in there I think. Onion. Yeah. Garlic. Yeah.
Just trying to make it taste good. Yeah. But I doubt that it was tasty. Yeah. It looked very tough. Chewy.
Yeah. You see him through for a very long time. Yeah. And did he eat the whole thing? No. No. No.
I think like the rubber sole. Yeah. Would probably not. Yeah. But I also see him really like doing
that actually. Like eating the entire shoe. Yeah. Yeah. If he said he's going to do it. He's not going to do it. That's true.
Yeah. I think it's an interesting. I'd recommend anyone who wants to see Gates of Heaven should
also see Werner Herzog's It's a Shoe. Because Werner Herzog has some very interesting
perspectives on the film. Which is also. It says a lot about Gates of Heaven that I can say and that I think it's
charming and sort of a warm film. It makes me feel good in a way. It's also
it has some kind of melancholic undertones maybe. I think. Yeah. Werner Herzog he says that it's
a very very sad film. Yeah. He finds it depressing. Okay. Yeah. Which is also true. I think.
I suppose like the subject matter is kind of depressing. Dead pets. But he kind of sees it as
because I see it. It's pretty quaint. Kind of it has some quirky humor. All the characters. I guess
the people he interviews are weird in a very charming way. Yeah. But I think Herzog sees it as
kind of the effect of late capitalism I guess. Yeah. And I think it's a very
strange thing to do. Yeah. And in the way that people
are distorting their feelings. Like it's not. It's a very strange. It's a very American thing to do.
To bury your pet I feel. Even though pet cemeteries are all over the world. But in this film it feels
like a very. Yeah. From the research that we have been digging up about pet cemeteries.
I think the world's biggest one kind of currently existing is an American one. And it had like
something like. I don't know like 700,000 dead animals in it. Which is very many. Yeah.
And it's maybe not. I guess what's kind of. I'm not going to say that. Yeah. 70,000. Sorry.
Well yeah. That's very different. 10 percent. Okay. Well it's still very many. It is still
very many dead pets. Still impressive. But I guess what. I agree with him on the point that to me it's
very bizarre that you can run a cemetery and a lot of people bury their loved ones or their pets there.
And then the cemetery can go bankrupt. Yeah. So you have to dig up everyone and everything and then
move it. It's very. It's strange. How can a cemetery go bankrupt? But it's kind of like a horrific
concept. Yeah. Like if it was people then that would be. Yeah. But the. That's the thing that
one of the things that we were sort of looking into to talk about this is. Yeah I can look into
it later but like this guy was sort of critiquing the idea of having pets and they're saying that
like we make them more human than we should to the point that he thinks that like having pets will
fall out of style in a few years because we will have made them so like us that it will be like
unethical to have a pet. Which just kind of what you were saying there that then the idea of digging
it up is maybe just as bad to the people who had the pets than digging up like a dead family member.
Yeah it is and they are interviewing the people some of the people who were
who had their pets dug up and they seem to find it pretty dramatic understandably enough. Like it's
it's yeah it is kind of horrible yeah yeah. But I understand that it's not some a concept that you
are so familiar with. No. No with the. With the. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's it's true.
But so when I
before I came here I did a little bit of reading about film to refresh my memory and then a lot of
people are saying like a typical thing that you say about Gates of Heaven is that it's not really
about pets it's about a lot of other things like people who love their pets and death and capitalism
and stuff. Which is maybe why I like it because what Joe is referring to is the fact that I've
never had the pet and I never had the pet growing up because both my parents are very allergic.
I had fish though which are. They are pets. I would say from some of the fish that I have had
I've been very attached to them but I think that just says more about me than than having fish
because I've been very upset when certain fish have died. Yeah yeah yeah. It is upsetting yeah.
But you don't have this like family dog of 15 years. No. Attachment. Yeah. I've never had a pet
that was also a family member. Yeah. I guess. But I obviously get it. I want the pet when I get an
apartment where it's around. Yeah. What kind of pet do you want? I want the cat. Oh yeah. I'm a cat person.
Recommend. Yeah. Do you have a cat? Yeah I've had cats like growing up. Only cats. We're extensively
not a dog family I think. Oh yeah. Yeah but I've had like four cats I think. I had my
childhood cat that I grew up with Jake who died when I was like maybe 12 and then we had Buddy
who died very young. Car incident. Very sad. But now we have Bruno and Lola. Okay. They were two cats.
Girl and boy and yeah I think I was actually talking to someone else about this. The idea
of losing a pet like the more pets that you lose the more kind of okay you are with the idea of it.
But I think with Bruno and Lola I'm not so sure. That's gonna be bad. That's gonna be tough. I'm
gonna have to like take a few weeks off. Yeah understandable. Yeah. Honestly yeah. But I love
those cats. I'm glad that I'm finally getting the platform to talk about them. But yeah no we've
had cats and we've had guinea pigs. Hamsters. Oh yeah. I had stick insects. Oh yeah. I don't know
what happened to them actually. A fun reflection. But we had them. And fish yeah. Like my dad had
fish from before I was born and they only died like last year. They? Or something like that before.
But they were 24 25. Yeah. Because I think when you have pets growing up or pets they kind of
they obviously or most likely will die before you. Yeah. So you have you are kind of confronted with
death. Yeah. Especially in childhood for children losing pets. That's like you have to
explain that maybe. Maybe that's the first time you'll talk with your child about the concept of
death. I don't know. But we had the first time we got fish was when my dad and my mom
divorced. And then my dad lived in this kind of like it was a nice apartment. But okay it was
kind of obviously his bachelor. Yeah. He's not a very he's like a minimalist kind of person.
It was a sofa a table with three chairs. Yeah. And then two beds for him and me and my brother.
Okay. And we were there every other weekend. Yeah. And I was about five or six. Everything you need.
Yeah. Yeah. What he would have said. But like for me. When my childhood kind of home. Yeah.
Yeah. It was a strange time. But he then I guess maybe to cheer us up bought us a fish each.
Okay. A red one and a black one. Yeah. And then this is like the early 2000s. So you could just
go to the fish store and you bought like a round bowl. Yep. And then and I you wouldn't do that now
because it's not good for the fish. It's way too it's not enough water and stuff. But you like get
the bag of fish and then you get the bowl. Yep. And then we were very excited. We got one each.
And then when we woke up the next day one of them had no obviously died. Yeah. Oh damn. So yeah.
So that was a very kind of immediate. Yeah. Then we had to have a discussion about that. Yeah.
Because of this fish. And then it. Yeah. What did you do with the fish. I don't know. I think my
father handled it. I honestly don't know. I think my father just handled it. Okay. Maybe. Yeah.
We were not a part of that process. Yeah. Because I remember when one of my dad's fish died. One of
the first ones died. And I remember being sort of like perplexed by it. But I'd also see Nemo.
Because Nemo was a film that I saw many many times as a kid because my sister watched it like
every day. Great movie. But I was aware of the idea of like fish getting flushed down the toilet.
And then when we did it and I just thought I remember thinking it like however less than 10
I guess and being like this is super weird. And like me and my dad said a prayer over the toilet.
And then that was like the burrow. And then we just flushed the toilet. Yeah. But I remember
thinking it was weird. So maybe I would have preferred to be left out of the toilet flushing.
Yeah. But I remember it like even now. It was strange. That's like a core memory. Yeah. With
them. This like pretty large goldfish going down the toilet. And my dad saying it was going to
heaven. Okay. Yeah. So that's kind of I think that's the reason that people need pet cemeteries.
Yeah. Firstly because they want to have somewhere where they can mourn. So they can go to this kind
of memorial. Which makes sense. Yeah. And then also in gates of heaven to circle back. Yes. Sure.
Sure. They talk to owners of pets who have buried their pets. And they talk a lot about
this is where it kind of gets profound. Because they sort of talk about the soul of the animal.
Yeah. They're very religious themselves. Yeah. And after having lived with an animal for maybe 15
years. They kind of it's incomprehensible for them that that pet doesn't have a soul. So it has to be
buried for them to be able to meet it again. And that says something about the animal I guess. Or
the bond between pet owner and pet owner. Yeah. That's something that through all this research
that I've kind of links with what you were saying for the even this like specific case with these
specific people. That the idea of kind of like immortalizing the pet is very important to people.
And that even from like we're reading about like the like 30 BC or something in Israel. People were
burying dogs for some kind of like religious reasons. Or in Egyptian times they were buried
so they could go with their owner to the afterlife. And yeah in this very famous pet cemetery in
London. They just began by it's in Hyde Park. This the gatekeeper of Hyde Park just like let someone
bury their dog in the backyard. Because they asked. And then suddenly like hundreds of people were
coming to ask if they could do that too. But all of like I can read you some of the quotes on the
graves because it kind of links to what you were saying. And some of them are like pretty profound.
We have like this is like the Victorian era. I think I said that. So like to my dear Musu there
are men both good and wise who say that dumb creatures we have cherished here below shall
give us kindly greeting when we pass the Golden Gate. Like it's beautiful. Yeah it is beautiful.
But it's like yeah that you have to put it on some sort of pet soul because the idea of
never seeing them again is too hard. But it's just like kind of strange to what Christian people
might like pick and choose has a soul and doesn't have a soul. The dog obviously has a soul. Obviously.
But then like a lizard might not have a soul. No that's true. I guess. No that's true. But lizards
are very cute. They are? Yeah my friend had a gecko someone I lived with in my bachelor
and it was very cute. They would like look at you and everything. Yeah I think they have souls.
Doesn't look at you. Yeah there's some like thought process going on there. Yeah okay. Yeah I think so.
Nice. But yeah it's a I actually grew up near a pet cemetery. Oh yeah. In the
where I live in England. I live next to this park I guess and that has a very small but there's
maybe like 100-150 graves if I'm remembering correctly. From like a Victorian era of all these
pets and oh but then when I was a bit older then looking at them and then it they all have these
like lovely epitaphs of you know like my lovely dog I'll see you and like see you when I see you
kind of thing and there is a montage like that in Gates of Heaven. I don't know if you saw it. I don't think I was
around for that bit. I think that's when I was gone. Yeah we were just like. When I was in bed.
So in Gates of Heaven there's this montage of a lot of the graves of the animals.
And it's a very touching moment. It's at the very end of the documentary.
So it's just completely silent and they go from grave to grave.
So I can just read some of them. Yeah go for it. This one is for Tipins who lived from
1973 to 1976 and it says rest is thine our beloved little angel sweetest of memories ours.
Which is sweet. Some people don't even get like quotes on their graves. That's it.
Yeah that's just like rest in peace or yeah pretty much whatever like oh like daughter to some mother
to something. Yeah. Yeah but never something like so profound and lovely.
But it's very like very heartwarming in a way. The kind of like maybe we humanize them too much
but also it's like so cozy at the same time. And it's very natural. I think it's it's nice that they
that an animal can or a pet can have that kind of can change lives. Yeah. I guess and they truly can.
Definitely. Here's for example Andy who lived from 1975 to 1976 our beautiful son.
So sad. Yeah. Only one year.
Here we have Monkey and Tanya and they lived from 1969 to 1971 and 1968 to 1972 respectively.
And it says forever in our hearts from Gordon and Tony. Oh so sweet. It is very sweet.
It's so sad to think that you never got that experience with your fish. Yeah I know but I
kind of I did have empathy for them I guess. Like I had feelings for them but I don't know if
you could bury a fish in the pet cemetery. Yeah my home like my home in England I would like to
think that we have our own mini like Lawrence family pet cemetery. Yeah because families make
their own. We have pretty much I think every animal that we have had die is buried in our garden.
That's very true and I think yeah those kind of pet cemeteries exist in Norway as well.
Probably in every garden you could find. Yeah a friend of mine was telling me he has their
family dog buried at their cabin. Yeah. Yeah I imagine that that happens. Yeah that's so sweet.
Like all the memories that you spent together and oh it's all cute. It's nice. But then you have
if you compare that to doing it as a business it is something completely different. Yeah it is
but it's like something. That's what's so interesting though about documentary.
It's like how yeah. Yeah but like there needs to be some sort of infrastructure to allow
pet cemeteries to exist like they have to be dug they have to be like up kept. I don't know
that's a word. Probably. Yeah I know. But yeah like someone has to do it I guess but it's still
strange that someone's like profiting off of. Yeah. But I suppose we similarly have that culture with
people like funeral director and everything they make money off dying people a lot of money on dying
people. Yeah it's a business. Yeah funerals are expensive. They really are. Yeah.
Could just bury everyone in the backyard. Yeah. Why not? Definitely where does it matter? Yeah.
You know I think but I suppose it's the same way you want to go like visit them. Yeah. Yeah like
we have a family grave that we go to like on anniversaries and everything and it's like nice
I guess. It makes very much sense. Maybe it makes sense that we want. Yeah it's maybe it's a bit
creepy to have someone like a family member buried in your backyard. Is it legal? I don't think so.
I don't think so either. No. Probably for a good reason. You'd probably have to own the land
but maybe not even then. I don't know never heard about it. No. But since it's so expensive.
That could be some homework for us and everyone listening is can I bury my
like dead relative in my backyard along with my dead dog. Yeah. Yeah and my fish. Yeah. That's so
nice. I guess if you're religious you want to bury your loved one in like a holy ground for example.
But I just actually just learned that watching the Wickemann because the man visiting the
island he is very Christian and he is like explaining that you can't bury anyone anywhere.
You have to bury them on church ground otherwise they can't go to heaven.
So there you go. So that's probably why. Yeah damn. The people want to bury their pets in the pet
cemetery. Yeah. Maybe. I have one last one. Yeah go for it. And it's a nice one to close on. It's a nice one. Okay.
Okay. So this is Panda who lived from 1960 to 1975. So long life. Yeah. And it says I knew love I had this dog.
Oh that's so nice. That's so cute. It's a little Pomeranian.
Yeah. Every one of these plaques also has pictures of the dogs. Yeah.
That's beautiful. Yeah. Well I think that's a lovely note to end on. Yeah. Thanks so much for joining.
Thank you for having me. This was fun. Yeah. Nice to be outside. Yeah. Nice to be outside. Yeah it's amazing.
I haven't been outside since last September or something. Really? Okay. Just true. Yeah just inside. Hibernating. Yeah.
So that is that. That was a really great interview. I enjoyed it so much talking to Anna. I felt like
it was a really wholesome conversation and I'm really I feel really glad that we were able to
have it at all. It was really nice to talk about some personal stuff and it was also just nice being
outside I guess and it was very I felt contemplative and it was just wholesome and I hope that you could
feel that sort of that we both had a very nice time and that was great. So thanks again Anna for coming on
and talking all about this film. It's really like you know our pets really are sort of like the best of us
in a way. Like it's a unique thing that ties everyone together and I think that
when we were talking about it sort of I think I was sort of lightly talking about you know
there's a lot to talk about with Christianity and why do they sort of pick and choose what gets us
all and what doesn't but ultimately I think it's something that we all do beyond sort of like the
religious concept is that of course it's just like very wholesome and lovely that we care so much
about these animals that are in our lives and we love them and I just think it's like not necessarily
a very harmful thing just the idea of that you would you want to see them again wherever we go
when we die and I don't know it's just like it's just cozy and it was really nice to talk about my
pets and I love shout out Bruno and Lolo if you're listening to the podcast I love you guys and uh yeah
so that's yeah that's uh that's the episode um next week is our 10th episode damn we've been
going for like about 12 weeks now 12 weeks on the trot and that's exciting next week we are joined
by Bendik again uh to talk about an insane film called who can kill a child and I'm very excited
to talk about that one because uh I'll talk about it next week but this uh that film is actually
what was one of the things that helped me sort of conceptualize the idea of the podcast before I
even started making it I've been wanting to talk about this film for a really long time so
I'm excited for that and I'm excited for 10 episodes that's going to be really cool
so let's close with uh some five star let box reviews for this film so from Ellie what an
endearingly enigmatic watch this may be the most American film I've ever seen from Rick Pictures
at least once a week I think about the completely cradeless brother with his wall covered in random
awards and I wish I could completely like cynicism like he did also this is an astounding
film that contemplates what it means to assign meaning in life but right now I'm thinking about
the wall of plaques and from Stin the documentary 90 minutes of pathos and an incredible shot
composition the blueprint for Christopher Guest and Wes Anderson if I were an actor I would use
the woman's monologue about her deadbeat son as my audition tape no matter the role
yeah I just uh if you can watch this film definitely do because I think you can find
something in it and it's just kind of contemplative and even though the subject matter seems a bit
sad I think it's very wholesome at the root of it and it's very well shot but thank you very much
for listening this has been the real thing I have been Joel Lawrence thank you and goodbye
and goodbye
this has been a bergen film club production our music is by wise john check them out on instagram
at wisc john official our logo is by pier sofia brindesen this episode was produced mixed and
engineered by joel lorans our researchers are inke schilderbrei bern and mamina nazmijit
want to talk to us about films please send us an email at podcast at bergenfilmclub.com follow
the show on instagram and twitter at the real thing pod check us out on letterboxd at bfk the
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