This documentary focuses on a hospice in Varanasi, India, a sacred city on the banks of the Ganges. The occupants come there when they are about to die, as many Hindus believe it will help their karma to die there. The film traces a few of the elderly patients, too sick to make any expression, and their care-taking families, but it is difficult to remember who is who after they are introduced. The film also interviews people active in this "industry," running the hospice, selling firewood for the pyres, etc. It's sometimes difficult to see this through their eyes instead of our cultural beliefs about death, but people are sincere.
In comparison with the director's earlier "Anonymously Yours," about the sex slave trade in Burma, this film is much less polemic. It displays a similar amount of sympathy with its subject, but generally looks positively at the practices shown here, with the exception of the environmental degradation of the river. However, it doesn't have the riskiness of the previous venture and thus stands out less from other documentaries about Indian culture.
Overall, the best part of the film are the most commonplace--I for one don't seem to be able to tire of watching the endless bustling on the ghats, disgusting as I find the water. The interviews are interesting but mostly too brief and it's difficult to connect who the people are. The shots of ceremonies (religious prayers and the funeral pyres) are fascinating but could be explained. The overall shape of the documentary could also have been better defined. There are intriguing moments, but it's difficult to get a clear picture of these people and this place.