Everyone returns to the ground someday...why not grow new life from the remains?
A will for the woods (co-directed by Amy Browne, Jeremy Kaplan, Tony Hale, and Brian Wilson) follows a story about a man named Clark Wang who was diagnosed with cancer and wanted to arrange a green burial for himself. What exactly is a green burial, though? This is an alternative burial process that uses only biodegradable materials when burying the dead without embalming with toxic products. The burials usually take place in a natural setting, such as woods, with a rock or plant marking the grave. This allows for burial grounds to stay as natural settings, so lands do not have to be cleared into fields for burial.
This documentary was an inspirational way to inform the public about the green burial movement; using a dying man's wishes to inspire others to have natural burials is much more powerful than just following the movement itself. It was a very emotional look at his life and how he wanted to have his death mean something, and it really made you want to follow in his steps so that his wishes could be real.
With that said, I do wish the filmmaker allowed us to get to know the character a bit better. I feel like much of the film was just skimming through some of his life, focusing on his arranging of the funeral. The arrangements were important to the story, but I also think the audience would be more inspired if we got to know Clark more- everyone around him seemed so touched by his presence, and I didn't really feel that way at all. It was like the filmmaker was trying to inspire admiration for him through the admiration of others, and it really wasn't effective for me. All I really knew about him was that he really liked folk dancing and classical music, which didn't make his death a moving moment for me.Â
I also think some more information about green burials would have been nice. They did a good job introducing the concept, but I would have liked to see more about the various techniques used, or maybe how burials are managed this way in other parts of the world. If I were to do this film differently, I would have incorporated this type of information throughout the film.
Finally, I think that actually showing the funeral at the end was a great touch. The film could have easily ended with him passing away, but actually showing his green burial kind of brings his ideas to life and gives the audience a live look at what a green burial is compared to a typical burial. Throughout the film you were left to just imagine the different things he was planning and discussing about green burials, and seeing it take place in the end helped to solidify everything.











