Orozco the Embalmer

Japanese photographer Tsurisaki Kiyotaka's 2001 documentary was shot in one of the areas considered most dangerous in Bogotá. In the workshop of Froilan Orozco, who has prepared the dead for more than fifty years, the bodies of people killed in the city every day are made ready for burial. The camera records the process without cutting anything. Tsurisaki is known as a photographer who works on images of death, and here too he offers no commentary, no narration and no context; he only shows. The defence of the film is that ignoring the result of violence is also a choice; the objection is that these images are used without the consent of the dead and turned into spectacle. Both can be considered fair. It is frequently cited in arguments about the ethical limits of documentary. Who it's for: only those examining documentary ethics academically. Who it's not for: almost everyone; the film consists of detailed footage of real corpses and cannot be treated as entertainment or as a source of information.