AllMovie

While death is an eventuality we all must face, not everyone makes plans for their funeral arrangements before they pass on, and some people, left with no family and meager financial resources, simply don't have the money to make burial plans in advance. Others die in a manner that makes them difficult to identify, while the remains of a few are simply never claimed by family or friends. Documentary filmmakers Grover Babcock and Blue Hadaegh have taken a look at this little-examined side of the American way of death, and A Certain Kind of Death looks at the people in Los Angeles whose job is to deal with such matters -- police officers, morgue officials, and others who deal with the remains of the unknown or unwanted and explain the protocols of their work. A Certain Kind of Death was screened in competition at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.