Existence

Production and year: Poland, 2007 Genre: fictionalized documentary Director: Marcin Koszałka Screenplay: Marcin Koszałka Cast: Jerzy Nowak, Prof. Konstanty Ślusarczyk Medical topic: donation of a body for scientific purposes Description: A terminally ill actor from Kraków decides to donate his body to medical students after his death for scientific purposes. Known mainly for supporting roles, this time he decided to play the lead role in a documentary that, in a way, crowns his life. We follow Jerzy Nowak’s meticulous preparations for death and his gradual coming to terms with it. Step by step, the actor settles all his earthly affairs. He talks about his experience of aging. The actor’s story is accompanied by footage from the dissection room and anatomy classes. The viewer learns how anatomical specimens are used and what learning with them looks like. We also meet a second extraordinary figure—Professor Ślusarczyk, an anatomist who also battled a serious illness for many years—brain cancer, a schwannoma. One could say that the professor survived his own death. He emerged from this ordeal with facial nerve damage and paralysis on one side of his body. He moves with the aid of a walker and speaks with difficulty. Despite everything, he continued his work at the Department of Anatomy and kept teaching students. He explains why the study of anatomy is so important for medical students and why it is worth deciding to donate one’s body for scientific purposes. He teaches young medical students not only the scientific aspects of the human body, but also respect for the deceased and the fact that there are values greater than biological life. Many claim that watching this film helps one come to terms with death. Unfortunately, it didn’t help me in that regard, but I want to believe that I still have some time left for that. It certainly made me realize how inevitable death is and how the passage of time affects everyone. An aging body begins to betray its owner. The film portrays death as a natural consequence of life, a solitary experience—regardless of who we were before.