Daniel Gordon - Northfork

One of the most interesting elements of Northfork was the side story that the new dam would flood he graveyard in the name of recreation. The dam is to create a lake for recreation and lakefront property, and to do this those in power are willing to flood a sizeable graveyard, violating to sacred ritual of burial. It seems likely that many of the graves have been there for decades or even centuries, as is often the case with graveyards, and many of the people buried there would have no kin remaining in the area to exhume them and rebury them somewhere else. What bothered me is not so much that the location of one’s body would make much difference to a person if he or she was dead, but rather that burial is so often a sacred act in most societies and the willingness to violate so many burials for profit and recreation seems unusual at best, and, at the worst, downright sociopathic. For most, even many for whom religion bears little or no significance in their lives, burial is a sacred and religious act. Most people who choose to be buried chose to have some kind of funeral or memorial service during which a religious leader speaks and usually prays. Burial has always been a sacred ritual and the mayor and those responsible for the dam in Northfork are willing to violate it without any regard, except to tell people to move their loved ones themselves if they don’t wish them to be buried under the lake. Interestingly the one religious leader in the movie, Father Harlan, has no part in the removal or reburial of any of the bodies. The families are left on their own to decide how to violate the sacred resting places of their family members in the most respectful manner they can think of.