The Holier It Gets

1999· 53 min· Documentary

The Holier It Gets tells the story of a journey, which takes an unexpected turn, that four siblings make into the Indian Himalayas. The purpose of their trip is to strew the ashes of their deceased father at the source of the Ganges river. The pilgrimage is an unlikely one, because although their father was born a Hindu in India, he rejected his past while studying in England in the 1950s, married a Londoner and moved to Canada. The children grew up with very little knowledge of their father’s country and culture, and lived with the assumption that he was not a religious man. But before his death, he confessed that he wished to be cremated and have his ashes taken back to India. The trip they make there to fulfill his wish is both a profound experience for them as a family, and perhaps the most challenging task they undertake together.

Director: Jennifer Baichwal