Early on in “Obit” — the affectionate new documentary which
gives viewers a look into the day-to-day experiences of the writers staffing
the New York Times obituaries desk — one of the film’s subjects is asked if
their work is depressing. After all, the job of an obituarist
requires one to literally spend nearly every waking moment thinking about death
and mortality.
But as Margalit Fox, one of several
Times writers interviewed for the film, points out, often only a single line of
an obituary is related to the actual death; the rest of the piece is all about
celebrating an individual’s accomplishments and legacy. So really, she says, an
obituary has next to nothing to do with death and everything to do with life.
Director Vanessa Gould takes that idea to heart, and her film
is unexpectedly joyous as it celebrates an unsung profession. She and her crew
get to be a fly on the wall at the Times offices, observing the meetings and
discussions about who gets the prime front-page placement, then following each
writer’s process as they research the details of an individual’s life (though
always mindful of their strict deadline) and making phone calls to surviving
family members.
Gould gives the film a loose through-line, following writer
Bruce Weber as he researches an influential advisor to John F. Kennedy during
his presidential campaign. Through talking head interviews and a plethora of
archival footage, we end up with a good sense of what goes into the job. “Obit”
is a reminder of how much of a pleasure it can be to simply observe people who
care about what they do and about doing it well.
Where once the obituaries beat was viewed as punishment or a
job reserved for writers nearing the end of their own careers, the current NY
Times staff members show that has evolved over time. These days, it’s all about
storytelling as writers find creative and unexpected entry points into the
lives of the individuals they write about. And the results can be funny,
interesting, or moving in and of themselves.
If the New York Times is bothering to write an obituary about
someone, that person was newsworthy in one way or another, someone whose life
had an impact on our world. As a result, there are pluses and minuses to the
job: the plus side is you get to spend your days writing about fascinating
people; the downside is that if they’re the one writing about them, it means
that person is dead. As Fox puts it, by the time someone’s name crosses her
desk, they’re already history.
This article appears in May 24-30, 2017.
