Orozco the Embalmer AKA
Orozco el embalsamador
(2001) 91 min
Rated: NA (Real murdered corpses, real embalming corpses, nudity, drug use)
Country: Japan
Director: Kiyotaka Tsurisaki
Starring: Froilan Orozco
Links: IMDB | Wikipedia
Rating: ★★★★☆
A documentary about an embalmer’s work in one of the poorest and most dangerous parts of Bogotá in 1990’s Colombia.
Warning: Descriptions of real embalming as it is the subject of this documentary. I have attempted to leave out photos with bodies and gore for this summary and review.
Summary:
Froilan Orozco runs a small enbalming workshop where he cleans up the corpses of Colombia for very little money.
Orozco cuts open the corpse, removes the viscera, turns the body over to spill out the blood, and washes off all traces of blood. After the corpse is washed, the guts are put into a plastic bag and stuffed back inside the body as well as rags. The body is then sewn up. Pieces of cotton is stuffed into the nostrils and mouth. Orozco then will dress the corpse.
Many of the corpses have died from violence. The camera pans over dead bodies lying in the street while Colombians stop to watch. Even children will gather to watch policemen examine a corpse in the street.
Orozco tries his best to clean up murdered bodies. He struggles to pull stockings on a corpse as he gets it ready for the coffin. He even will sometimes apply some makeup.
He works on a man who was catapulted out of a dumpster. He cleans out the corpse and stuffs in the viscera, rags and pours half a bottle of embalming fluid into the cavity. He even stuffs the corpse’s underwear into the body before sewing it up. Orozco says the job he did on this man costs 10 US dollars.
Another embalmer, Wipa, stuffs a woman’s cranium with newspaper before sewing back together her scalp. He claims that the bodies he works on can last up to a month without smelling bad. He then puts makeup on her face and dresses her up for her casket. She is restored and appears to sleep in the coffin.
Orozco prepares a thin old man for his funeral. He remarks that the corpse doesn’t have much blood in it. He stuffs the body cavity with rags and formalin so that the body will fill up, otherwise it will be too thin. He also remarks that formalin scalds the flesh like raw meat thrown into boiling water.
When the documentarians return to his workshop, they find that Orozco has passed away. They are told that he died due to complications of his hernia and his lack of resting after having surgery. He insisted on carrying corpses himself, rather than get help.
In a card we are told that although Orozco had embalmed over 50,000 bodies, he did not get embalmed. He didn’t even get a proper grave.
Review:
Though it is a bit exploitive with slow pans over dead bodies, the documentary is still somewhat heartfelt. Orozco takes pride in his job despite it making him very little money. In Colombia, the violence tends to give him a steady stream of corpses to work on.
The film lays bare all the violence and drug use on the streets. The poverty lines each dirt road. People beg for change and sell anything they can to survive. Of course the focus remains on Orozco. His quick and cheap ways to bring some dignity to the rough lives of the poor dead of Bogotá.
Orozco tries to keep his humor despite his circumstances and this film is a great tribute to a man who would otherwise be forgotten.
This film is a strong recommend for anyone interested embalming done in impoverished circumstances. As a warning: This film contains real footage of drug use, drug selling, nudity of corpses, dissecting of corpses, a decomposing corpse, and bloody crime scenes involving dead bodies.
