Neal Smither and the world of crime scene clean-up

"I don't see us as cleaners; I see us as finishers," declares Neal Smither proudly in the documentary Crime Scene Cleaners, released in 2000. The film opens the door to a rarely highlighted world where Smither and his company clean up after human tragedies. Director David J. Sperling takes us into a daily life filled with bloody tasks and emotional challenges, from cleaning suicide scenes to removing bodily remains after fatal accidents. Smither, the film's central figure, navigates these daunting situations effortlessly with a directness that is at times unbearable, which the film captures.

Ethics and criticism: Smither caught in a moral storm

With a modest budget, the documentary delves deep into the ethical quagmire that Smither wades through daily. He aims to alleviate the trauma of the bereaved by removing the physical reminders of the tragedy. Yet his methods divide opinion, with some seeing them as necessary, while others criticize his callous approach and lack of empathy towards clients and employees. This is illustrated in a scene that caught critics' attention, where Smither bluntly calls a client "psychotic." The raw access draws attention to discussions about ethics and morality in a frequently overlooked industry.

From mediocre rating to cultural phenomenon

Crime Scene Cleaners has become an important reference for those seeking insight into the mental and practical dimensions of biohazard cleaning's origins. The film received a mediocre rating of 6.5/10 on IMDb but managed to stir enough interest to inspire a short TV series, True Grime: Crime Scene Clean Up. Through YouTube and the Internet Archive, the film continues to challenge our understanding of the emotional work environment and contributes to the debate on how we handle the grim scenes that life occasionally leaves us with.

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