Peace is not a feeling I would associate with the word obsolete. Yet, the first few minutes of the documentary film “Obsolete” by Sumira Roy portrayed that exact feeling. 

The film opens with a simple portrayal of Narayan and Iravati Lavate, an elderly couple longing for euthanasia. There is no dialogue for the first few minutes — this is where a sense of peace truly emerges.

As the film progresses, this perception of peace is cracked. This is not a story about finding meaning in old age or the acceptance of not being able to live like you once could. Instead, this is a story about finding dignity in death and being able to choose your own end. 

Throughout the film, Roy follows the Lavate couple, who are asking the Indian government to allow them to die peacefully through assisted suicide. Euthanaisa is not legal in India, and the couple is pursuing the right to die this way.

“Obsolete” discusses the choices that we as a society allow people to make during death. In addition, the film touches on the autonomy over our own lives and how it changes as we grow older. The idea of euthanasia does not sit right with many people in the world. 

Roy does not share that idea. She attempts to bring awareness to the want and necessity of assisted suicide, allowing viewers to understand why someone could want to voluntarily end their life. She leads the audience to question their own ideas of mortality and what it truly means to want to end one’s life. 

Roy provides more insight into this want with the use of juxtaposition throughout the film. She utilizes the location of the Lavates’ apartment to truly show how surrounded by life the couple was. 

The couple was often shrouded in silence and calm, while any scene shot outside was full of movement and noise. By doing this, Roy attempted to showcase that the Lavates’ decision was not due to loneliness or a lack of community.

Autonomy is a crucial theme in this film. The Lavates were fighting for autonomy over their own lives through the choice of how they died. They believed that they lived with dignity, and they wanted to be able to die with dignity as well. 

By viewing euthanasia through the eyes of this couple, the audience is encouraged to rethink their prior views on assisted suicide. This perspective forces them to question whether or not this couple should be allowed the dignified death that they desire. 

It’s important to acknowledge that the Lavates were not struggling with mental health. Roy made it clear that the film was not exploring the concept of suicide through that lens. It instead explores the idea of choosing how one dies and being able to die on your own terms. After all, if we expect the freedom to choose how we live, why should we be expected to give up that freedom when it comes to the end of our life?

Edited by Molly Levine | mlevine@themaneater.com

Copy Edited by Briana Iordan | biordan@themaneater.com

Edited by Scout Hudson | shudson@themaneater.com