Donated to Science

Now, to be clear from the outset, in lieu of seeing the full movie, I watched the half as long version that was screened on TV3 last year.

Donated to Science is a New Zealand documentary that was filmed at Otago University... because that is one of the few universities that actually do dissections. This film follows people who donated their bodies to science, from interviewing them before they die, to the students who dissect their bodies afterward. (At least, we presume that they are dissecting those specific people. It isn't entirely made clear in this version which body was which.)

The focus is really on the students, their reactions, and we see them doing the full dissections. (Not close up for the whole thing, although still some ball-shrinking detail.) [I can only presume that in the full version we get more, more interview time with the donors, more time on the dissection, more reaction from the students.]

And there is a lot of reactions. Some students try to be tough, some are more distant, some are crying. And, yes, there are talks about souls, but only from a few people. There is a vignette where there is a memorial service, where family of donors are there, and it shows up just how much people expect there to be a body during service so they could say goodbye.

Interesting documentary, but not for the easily squeamish.


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