Have you ever wondered… if there is something that happens to the soul after a person dies? Does the soul die with the body or does the soul live on? Surviving Death is a docuseries that answers all these questions. Based on Leslie Kean’s book, this docuseries delves into the areas which have repeatedly been questioned by great minds for over generations, but they failed to get a concrete answer to all those questions. But what are those questions?
What happens when a person has a near-death experience or dies? Is there a way a connection can be established between the living world and the world of spirits? Do spirits ever try to contact or connect with their loved ones? Are spirits seen or felt by anyone? What are reincarnations and are they really a phenomenon? The book is divided into a docuseries of six episodes, which tries to get a perspective on each of these questions.
The opening shot of Surviving Death is of a woman kayaking in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She then says how she had a near-death experience as she and her boat fell off a waterfall and she was submerged in 10 feet of water. Her bones were broken and she was not breathing anymore. She recalls how she went through a tunnel at the end of which she was met with a loving and embracing light after which she was greeted by her ancestors. But they said it wasn’t her time yet.
After that, she travelled back to her body and she came back to life. From what she heard, she was in an NDE for around 30 minutes. A lot of other similar NDEs were talked about and discussed which had altogether changed the life of those who experienced something similar.
The docuseries further talks about how people can get in touch with their deceased loved ones through mediums and the kinds of mediums available – Trance, Mental and Physical. The topic about mediums was quite vividly and elaborately covered which is something I appreciate. They even spoke about the misconceptions and scepticism involved in the process of mediumship.
My favourite episode was of reincarnations. The reason is that it felt real though it was an episode irrespective of it being a work of fiction or non-fiction. The way each story was catalogued in the episode was done in a linear manner and didn’t seem abrupt. This is one thing documentaries that catalogue multiple stories fail to do most of the time which breaks the flow of thought of the viewer.
Surviving Death takes that track that appeals to the non-believers and it’s a much more interesting show because of it. Not that it takes a sceptical approach, but Ricki Stern tries to find as many scientific viewpoints as possible, at least in the NDE episode. These experts don’t try to explain the unexplainable; they instead relate that these studies have changed how they view things, even if there still isn’t hard scientific fact behind their change in viewpoint.
Surviving Death is now streaming on Netflix.
Read our other reviews here.