Over My Dead Body (ATOM Study Guide)

There's never been a better time to be a cadaver. Stripped down to its sellable parts, the recycled human body can be repackaged and sold on for as much as $200,000. Skin and bone from the dead are part of a new resources boom.

Welcome to the brave new world of privatised recycling of the dead. It's a place where a freely given and 'priceless' gift may now also help to fatten the bottom line of a private company. It's a world of miracle cures and unknown risks. It's in its infancy here but, in the United States, it's a business worth around eight billion dollars a year.

Over My Dead Body takes an unflinching look at the human tissue trade in Australia, its commercialisation and the future of the supply chain. Narrated by a fictional cadaver, this timely, stylish and audacious film is at times shocking, sometimes sad, but as compelling as it is unusual. Director Ian Walker's last effort, the ABC series Dust to Dust got an insider's view of a Leichhardt funeral home and made The Australian newspaper's Top Five list of documentaries for 2005.

The story is told through the journey of 'Richard', a newly-dead donor who witnesses the wondrous life-saving possibilities of the new tissue-based medical products made from cadavers like him. But, he also learns of the perils of privatisation, including a body snatching scandal in New York which sparks infection fears as far away as Australia.

It's a frustrating fact that no one seems to have a good answer for, but Australia has one of the lowest donor rates in the western world. One in four are 'signed up' to say they want to but, in the end, there are only about ten donors per million population.

Over My Dead Body grapples with many seemingly grotesque concepts and provides a glimpse of many processes none of us get to witness. Its real aim, though, is to question a world that's okay with the commodification of our 'afterlife'. It also reminds us that we may not be being told all we need to know to make a truly informed choice about donation after death.

In the end, it's a film to make you think long and hard about the curious transactions humans make with each other over the recycling of the dead.