5 Beats Before Death

Directed by Thu Thu Shein

Nobody knows what death is, as nobody has survived long enough to talk about it. But maybe death is not the end of life after all. 'When an old person dies, a baby is born', as one of the old ladies says without a hint of sorrow in '5 Beats Before Death', which follows the lives of those still alive at a home for elderly women in Burma. Here, they prepare with Buddhist tranquility and cheerful black humour for what the afterlife may bring. They speak openly and without fear about the life that will soon end, and about the journey that they are about to embark on. The only thing they are afraid of is that they might come back as ghosts. Therefore, it's important for the old ladies to say farewell to their loved ones and to face death on their own, without being attached to anything in this world. This is something that has to be done, but it isn't always easy. But they do have each other's good company, and the result is a cheerful, funny and wonderfully life-affirming film.