The day is August 8th, 2022, and Chika Kapadia has eight days left to live. Chika has terminal cancer and has come to Zurich, Switzerland to die peacefully thanks to physician-assisted suicide. “Fly on the Wall,” an Indian documentary with devastating emotional impact, follows his last days on this earth as he prepares himself and his loved ones, while enjoying every single moment he has left and reflecting on the merits of assisted suicide.
A Fly on the Wall is screening at Busan International Film Festival
What is impressive about Chika, among many other things, is his quiet fortitude and acceptance of his fate. On May 1, we learn, Chika first became aware of a strange swelling on his neck during a routine visit to his dentist. Two weeks later, he was told by his doctors that he only had a few months left to live. This is the terrible news anyone of us might hear some day, tomorrow perhaps, but how many will be so resilient in the face of such tragedy?
The unobtrusive documentary remarkably conveys Chika’s resolution and gentleness as he is about to meet his fate. We see how much he seems to be in pain, yet also how much he keeps smiling and enjoying solid Swiss beer steins by the tranquil waters of lake Zurich on sunny August days. “Dignity” is the key word Chika is heard using many times, and in that respect “Fly on the Wall” is true, in its style, tone and spirit, to his core message of living, and dying, with decency and dignity, alternating between moments of merriment and solemnity.
The opening scene is a good example of the delicate balancing act the documentary pulls off. A group of friends is out drinking and laughing merrily as Chika wishes them all good health, causing general hilarity, and they start reminiscing about good old days. Yet before long, one of the friends asks Chika’s permission to take some of his ashes and sprinkle them in the Raja Ampat islands, conveying that there is something terribly wrong going on.
The best thing about “Fly on the Wall” is how, despite its title, the camera keeps reminding us of its presence, and how often the filmmakers step in front of the camera. One of them, Shonali Bose, also happens to be a very close friend of Chika’s and is deeply affected by the events. Instead of fading into the background, she films herself and her doubts as Chika spends time with his family and refuses to be filmed. She confides to the camera, in real time, about her desire to leave Zurich and abandon the project, and her distress and confusion at the events unfolding.
The documentary then transforms into the filmed diary of a woman who lost her teen son many years ago and is now about to lose a friend of 25 years, reflecting on mortality and how to mourn our loved ones. Above all, she has doubts about the ethics of her position and whether she is not taking advantage of Chika by filming his last days. This is a terrible situation to be in, and one of the many difficult questions raised by this absorbing, unpretentious and deeply human film.
The most serious doubt Bose entertains, and the biggest challenge she and Chika face, is whether to film his actual death. Chika insists this is the heart of the documentary and cannot be dispensed with; Bose is not so sure, especially as Chika’s family (never seen or heard) insist on their privacy. Chika himself vacillates between his own goals and his desire to respect his family’s wishes, making Bose’s position even more untenable.
The hesitation comes from the other core tension undergirding the documentary: the deeply personal, intimate nature of the events unfolding, and the political dimension of the film – although “political” seems almost a swearword in such a humanist context. Chika’s goal in making this documentary was to show how helpful and humane assisted suicide can be, and to denounce the fact that Switzerland is still the only country in the world allowing foreign citizens to enter the country and be helped to die. In that sense “A Fly on the Wall” is as political as Pedro Almodovar’s recent “The Room Next Door”, on the same subject, although here things are terribly, distressingly real.
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Whatever one’s views on assisted suicide, it is impossible to remain unaffected by “A Fly on the Wall”, which can also be seen, ultimately, as a heartbreaking and inspiring story of everlasting friendship – until and beyond death itself.
