Face à la mort II

Since death is something that we all have to face at some point, it's no surprise a lot of people have a morbid fascination with the subject, or that 'documentaries' such as this exist (or, indeed, websites that trade in grisly real-life imagery). For many it's about confronting reality, others will be testing the limits of what they can handle, and there'll no doubt be those that find the whole thing funny, and something to boast about having seen to friends. Whatever your reason for watching, there's no denying that Faces of Death II contains some very disturbing scenes, and that the film should be approached with caution.

The first FOD film was a mix of fake footage and real-life horrors, but part II is almost all genuine, with only a drugstore robbery gone wrong being apparently staged (the hysterical female witness isn't very convincing): the film features Hindu cremations, an avalanche disaster, a fatal boxing match, unsuccessful daredevil stunts, and airplane crashes, the camera lingering on the victims. These are either accidents or acts of nature, and are comparatively innocuous. Scenes of war atrocities are harder to take, although these days such harrowing footage is often broadcast on TV in news reports and in documentaries, and unfortunately no longer has the impact it once had. For me, the real 'punch to the gut' is the animal cruelty, specifically the brutal slaughter of dolphins, made all the more difficult to stomach after the narrator, Dr. Francis B. Gröss (Michael Carr), talks at length about the intelligence of the species. Sometimes, the human race really sucks (I guess that's the main message to be gleaned from this film).

Other abhorrent content presented for your entertainment includes a tribe of cannibals with leprosy, and a mass execution by firing squad. Don't say you haven't been warned.

4/10: it's worth seeing if only for the jet-propelled car stunt: did they really think that was going to work?