Fin de partie: repenser la vie et la mort

"We are wired to run away from death but dying is a part of life. " This is a story of four terminally ill patients are about to reach their destination.. who are ready to embark upon a new unknown journey that would relieve them from all the sufferings. Conversations with them, interviews with some of their families as the patients spend their final moments with them.. the candid conversations about the end of a life .. it is surely a tough watch but this short doc is a reminder of the inevitable.. as the healthy ones keep thinking about how to live by all worldly avaricious norms, the sicks just want to live ...it is made in a verite style that this bitter truth that we often brush aside would nudge you that it is going to meet you at the end of the path..

• Purvi.

This documentary packs a powerful blow in unmasking death. I've sat through two hospices deaths: my aunt and my dad. I found going to and from the hospice's incredibly difficult. Being with my dying loved ones wasn't, but the trip to them felt like a sledge hammer was hitting my heart. It was a relief to let both go, even though at the time I didn't feel that. I felt as we all do a desperate clinging to have them back if only for seconds. Since I've found peace to accept memories are all I have left - and that is enough. Hoping for miracles carries a heavy emotional price-tag thats not easy to put into words or even pictures - but this documentary does a superb job.

Treasure life. It always feels like its gone too quickly.

Over the years, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman have made documentaries usually focusing on LGBT topics (Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, The Celluloid Closet, State of Pride, etc)*. With the Academy Award-nominated "End Game", they look at a different topic: death. This production focuses on palliative care, forcing the viewer to think differently about death. After all, it's a topic that we try to avoid, but it will eventually happen to every one of us.

Serious but calm, the documentary is one that every person should see.

*Without Friedman, Epstein directed "The Times of Harvey Milk", a documentary about the assassinated gay politician.

While this takes you on the edge of a second hand experience of death... I know for most people, such kind of support system (both medical and family) is hard to get....

Death is a larger (more definitive) truth than birth... and it's more difficult to comprehend for those who are left behind compared to those who "experience" it,,,

While different relations may perceive it differently, the question that remains is who/what died?

Anyways... highly recommended for people of all backgrounds irrespective of age, sex/gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic background, educational status and religious/non-religious/scientific beliefs...

End Game is a look into the final stage of a few people's lives and how they and their families deal with it. I can not say I have ever seen anything like this. I remember seeing my first piano teacher of 4+ years in Hospice as a young kid and being so shocked when she passed. There are many hard decisions and acceptances along this path. Dr. Miller, a palliative care professional, maintains a unique outlook on the whole process and does his best to bring peace to those he can.

I did, however, find it hard at times to stay engaged with the stories because I felt they moved a tad too slowly. Regardless, the film is eye-opening and touching at many different moments.