The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (1971)

Directed by

Stan Brakhage

Genre

documentary

Country

United States

Runtime

32 min

Rating

6.4 of 10 from 60 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A silent film that shows real autopsies being performed in a morgue. It records the medical procedures of removing organs and embalming bodies.

confrontationalrawclinicalunflinchinggraphiccontemplativedocumentary-styledisturbing

What happens

The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes is a 1971 American film by Stan Brakhage. Its title is based on the literal translation of the term autopsy. The film documented the highly graphic autopsy procedures used by forensic pathologists, such as the removal of organs and the embalming process. The film is part of Brakhage's "Pittsburgh trilogy", a trio of documentary films Brakhage made about the city's institutions in 1971. The other two films are entitled Eyes and Deus Ex. These documentaries are about the police force and a hospital, respectively. American critic Jonathan Rosenbaum referred to The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes as "one of the most direct confrontations with death ever recorded on film." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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