I started this project with the intention of profiling young doctors working in hospice and palliative care, seeing how they interacted with their older patients and dealt with issues around providing end of life comfort instead of a cure.

I already had a relationship with the head of the palliative care fellowship at Stanford Medical School, Dr. VJ Periyakoil. She facilitated all of my permissions, giving me unfettered access to the doctors' training ground, the hospice unit at the Palo Alto Veteran's Administration. But, as with any documentary, things changed once I arrived. The doctors rotated through many other locations, giving me little chance for continuity. But it did not take long for a few patients, namely George and Angel, to emerge as strong characters. I became fascinated with how they and other patients decorated their rooms, ate their meals, and went about their routines in their final stage of life.

The real meat of the film was in the details: laundry, eating upright, even dill pickles. George does in fact struggle with his faith until his last days, but his final words attempt to demystify all the drama around death and dying, " these are the words of a man who is dying, which doesn’t make them any truer than a man that's living. "