Earlier this month, Channel 4 broadcast Reverend Death, a powerful documentary from filmmaker Jon Ronson that details the work of George Exoo, a Unitarian minister who helps non-terminally ill people commit suicide.
My career at the channel has run alongside the entire production period of this project. Normally, a prime time documentary would take around three to six months to make – this film took over five years. Why it took so long is another story, and could be a film in itself (a production company went bust, producers changed, the film length increased, our subject faced extradition to Ireland…) – now though, I’m glad to say that Reverend Death has been broadcast and, more importantly, I’m proud to have been involved with it.
Reverend Death was a legal and moral minefield but, for me, that’s what makes the film so special. Jon Ronson’s style of filmmaking and interviewing is unique, and with a subject matter that would normally receive a harder current affairs approach, it was a challenge to deliver the final product. Over the five years, Jon and I worked very closely with C4 lawyer Heather Jackson and there were times when her word was probably more important than mine. We had numerous debates about the film’s structure and content, and not all of us agreed on various points. But that’s the real beauty of programme making – despite what some people say, it’s not about auteurism, it’s about team work.
Our subject, George Exoo is a very polarising character. You either agree with what he’s doing or you don’t – there is no middle ground. That’s exactly what I love about films; one person’s interpretation can be completely at odds with the next person’s. At the beginning of this filmmaking process, Jon was definitely more sympathetic than I was, but I think this tension enabled the film to delve deeper into what was going on. I think the film does this really well.
In his own lovable style, Jon delivered a film that follows a man who feels he has a calling to assist those that want to die – a subject matter that only Jon could have come up with. Jon uncovered the source of George’s motivations and found out who and what had influenced him. He met someone who wanted to “exit”, uncovered a shady underground euthanasia movement, and explored the thoughts and opinions of the mainstream. He fully explored everything around the film’s central character and managed to do this over a long period of time, often at long distance – something not to be sniffed at.
It would have been easier to have made a superficial film about “a wacky American who helps people die”, and maybe that’s what this film could have become had it been made in the conventional time period. The bravery on Channel 4’s part was to back Jon beyond this, to not pressure him (too much at least!) to deliver on time and to give him the freedom to explore why Exoo does what he does. Ninety-minutes may seem like a long duration for a documentary, but in order to do this subject justice it was the right thing to do.
Someone asked me after watching Reverend Death if I felt that we should have analysed George’s past and mindset in more depth. My reaction was to say that that’s a whole different film… A follow-up anyone?
