R I P Recycling Interred People

Funerals are big business. In some countries like Greece, graves are reused over and over again. R.I.P. can be reinterpreted as Recycling Interred People. Families in Greece pay for an elaborate funeral and an expensive marble grave only to have it destroyed by a bulldozer 3 or 4 years later. They are then required to pay more money to have their loved one's remains forcibly exhumed so that the same grave can be reused for another corpse. In many cities, this process yields 8 million euros profit per year for local government. The bureaucrats turn a cold shoulder when confronted by grieving families who have to endure and watch their kin be buried, then unburied (skeletons with intact clothes) and have their remains thrown away or put into a little box. The funeral debate is an international, religious and social issue. This film takes the viewer on a historical journey and contrasts it with the present. Life becomes death. Our material world turns to rubbish. Rest in Peace has become as difficult as Life in Peace. Will we ever learn to respect Life, Nature and our mortal destiny?