Orozco: The Embalmer

Humor: 2
Blood: 3
Nudity: 4, graphic nudity of corpses
Minutes FF’ed thru: none
Other: In Spanish with English subtitles
Overall rating: 4
Memorable quotes:
In reference to embalming a baby:
Orozco: Look at this little shit! Now I knife it, it’s a sin.
Lady: Do me a favor.
Orozco: Why not, bitch.

Orozco was Bogota, Columbia’s premiere embalmer, having been in the business for over 40 years and having done over 50,000 people (5-10 bodies a day). He charged from 10,000-50,000 Columbian pesos, which on the high end at the time of filming (1996-1998) was about $50, and today equals about $25.

In the first scene, we see Orozco embalm an overweight woman. He slices open her belly, removes the organs, turns her over to drain, washes the body with a water hose, drains her again, then puts her organs back in. He pours about half a bottle of liquid in her body cavity, adds a sheet to make her look fuller, then sews her up. He puts a rag in her mouth, and cotton in her nose, finalizing the process before dressing her. He’s interrupted with a dead infant, which he sits on top of the dead woman. (Note the dialog above) He then holds up the baby corpse for the camera to see, proceeds to put cotton in it’s mouth and nose, and then returns it to it’s coffin. He then finishes the woman by dressing her.

Another lady goes through the same process, but he puts her organs in a bag before returning then to the body cavity. In order to transport the body to the coffin, he uses a belt around the corpse’s neck to assist him. Another guy he gets had an autopsy done, so he has to reopen the body cavity, only to find that the brain had been removed, and put inside with the organs. I’m not sure if this is a standard medical practice in the U.S., but it was pretty freaky when I saw it.

A rival embalmer criticizes Orozco’s technique, and shows how he uses a butcher knife to help close the eyes, and then fills the empty brain cavity with newspaper, then sews the skin and hair back on. His surefire method allows bodies to last for 20 days to one month without any stink or decomposition. He then applies cosmetics, and clothes the body, putting the under garments over the plastic covering the body incision.

The director shows a lot of imagery of the gritty life in Columbia, where death just seems so nonchalant. I’ve seen a few embalming videos, and even considered the profession, but Orozco’s methods seem so crude and uncaring. Maybe that’s just the way it is in Columbia, a gritty burial for a gritty country. I can only imagine how cruder it gets in other countries, but what ever happened to preserving life the way the Egyptians did? Please mummify me and bury me with all my worldly possessions so I can use them in the afterlife. :) This is a great documentary, but pretty tough to find and can set you back about 40-60 bucks. Highly recommended for any fan of real life shockumentary.