Griefwalker: : A documentary on Stephen Jenkinson

By now I’m sure you all know my love of the National Film Board of Canada and their movies.

Griefwalker is yet another film produced through the assistance of the NFB dealing with topics relating to Buddhism, palliative care, living and dying, philosophy and moral issues. (If you haven’t seen Leonard Cohen’s narration of the story of the ‘The Tibetan Book of the Dead’ you owe it to yourself to check it out).

Griefwalker tells the story of Stephen Jenkinson, a Harvard-trained theologian who is a palliative care worker helping many come to terms with their finality. He’s been given the nickname “the Angel of Death”.

“Whether sitting at the bedside of a dying woman, or speaking to clinicians dedicated to delaying death, Jenkinson bears a message that most do not want to hear: that death is not something to be denied or avoided—but “befriended…. Jenkinson says there is a “hole inside most of us and it’s in the approximate shape of a soul.”

There is such a strong denial of death in our culture. Thoughts that if we discuss it or plan for it, then we’ll bring it on ourselves. To continue to not be curious or inquisitive about this ‘fact of life’ does both us and our family and friends a disservice.

Directed by award-winning documentary director, producer, and writer Tim Wilson ‘Griefwalker’, this film looks like essential viewing for anyone who isn’t likely to look away when facing their mortality.

Check out the trailers for the film here and Stephen Jenkinson’s website Orphan Wisdom here