Product Details

• Actors: Scottie Harberts, Florence Rasmussen, Floyd McClure, Ed Quye, Mike Koewler
• Directors: Errol Morris
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: June 22, 1994
• Run Time: 85 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302801095
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,984 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Errol Morris launched his fascinating, Oscar-winning career with this instant classic, a documentary about pet cemeteries. The subject is darker and weirder than even Stephen King could dream up, yet the movie is also wildly funny and lingeringly sad. As Morris gets his people to soliloquize for the neutral camera, they confirm that their love for their pets is utterly sincere--and that eccentricity runs deep in the American grain. Although the ostensible topic is animals, the owners and clients reveal much more about the species that walks on two legs; the depth of human feeling on display is bottomless, and the ability of humans to anthropomorphize their pets is astounding. (Surely some of these animals must be utterly bewildered by their keepers.)

The film looks at two California cemeteries, one failed, one flourishing. First-time viewers often have the experience of laughing through the first half of the picture--this is an outrageous group of people who wouldn't be out of place in a Christopher Guest comedy--and then growing emotionally involved. Morris's flat, dead-on style makes the movie a mirror, so that cynics will see a fool's parade of weirdoes, while pet lovers will warmly identify with so much tenderness toward animals. (And Roger Ebert, the film's biggest champion, will see one of the 10 best movies ever made.) It's a strange experience, but likely one you'll never forget. --Robert Horton

Product Description
From Academy Award(r)-winning* director Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line) comes this acclaimed film about success and failure in the grave business of animal interment. "Memorable, moving and poignant" (Channel 4 Film), Gates of Heaven is "so rich and thought-provoking it stays in your mind for tantalizing days" (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times). When financial hardship forces California's Foothill Pet Cemetery to close its pearly gates, its dearly departedloved ones are relocated to the nearby Bubbling Well Pet Memorial Park. During this tense transition, filmmaker Morris meets a collection of eccentric cemetery operators and anguished animal-lovers and elicits a meditation on love and loneliness that's "strange, chilling [and] appallingly funny" (Newsweek). *2003: Documentary Feature, Fog of War (with Michael Williams)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The paradox, July 24, 2005

By	D. W WISELY "chiffandfipple" (Birmingham, AL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Gates of Heaven (DVD)

You don't know me. I'm not given to hyberbole. But, Ebert's right about this film: There's not a better American film. And it IS a thoroughly American film. It's about business, money, pets, love, success, failure. It's all here. I'm grabbing this and taking it with me when the spaceships come. (They're due in September.)

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars human nature on film, August 23, 2003

By	timmy (Indiana) - See all my reviews

Here's what is amazing about Gates of Heaven: Two completely different people could watch it and both enjoy it from different perspectives. For one, this could be a heartwarming, courageous tale about dedicated pet-owners and their struggle to build pet cemeteries. For another, this could be simply a hilarious look at human nature and its peculiar quirks and tendencies.

Errol Morris knew he was getting more than information about pet cemeteries when filming Gates of Heaven; he was capturing real, sincere moments by people possessing all kinds of characteristics. Sadness, cynicism, laughter, envy, and the unflinching love for pets is present throughout Gates of Heaven. This film isn't really a documentary about pet cemeteries at all. Rather, it is about human beings, the passions we have, and how we achieve them in this life. Near the end of the film as I watched a young hippie cemetery owner playing his guitar up in the hills, I realized how far this film was reaching for, and how successful it was in reaching it.

From the jealousy of a man towards his younger, more successful brother, to the hilarious (and somewhat sad) monologue by a lonely old woman, Gates of Heaven ultimately shows that no matter what people strive to achieve, whether it be pet cemeteries or President of the United States, it's their heart and souls that will remain timeless.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ALMOST DIDN'T BELIEVE THIS WAS A DOCUMENTARY, March 22, 2004

By	Shashank Tripathi (Gadabout) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Chanced upon this DVD by accident, and thought it was a movie. Turned out to be a documentary about two pet cemeteries, and drab as that may sound, it is a brilliant film that reaches far beyond the scope that its description would have you expect.

The cinematic production values are top notch, not a simple tryst with a camcorder (which usually serves the purpose for most documentaries) but colors that pop off the screen. The chats with pet owners are moving and poignant. Don't look for something obvious to blow you away.

Just watch it, embrace it, and feel it. And then you will wonder at it. It is immensely thought provoking. Highly recommend watching this marvel if you can get your hands on it.