Synopsis
Mr. Lazarescu (Ion Fiscuteanu) is not feeling well. He has a bad headache and has been vomiting. He feels that it is something more serious than the pain caused by his ulcer and the hangovers caused by his regular excessive drinking. He calls for an ambulance, and after convincing the skeptical dispatcher that he is not simply drunk, he begins the long wait for help to arrive. Eventually, he visits his neighbors, Sandu (Doru Ana) and Miki (Dana Dogaru), in search of stronger pain relievers. They are busy and reluctant to help him, but eventually realize that something may be seriously wrong with the smelly old drunkard. Sandu takes him back to his apartment, and, later, the paramedic, Mioara (Luminita Gheorghiu), finally arrives. After ascertaining that Lazarescu has been drinking to excess, she considers giving him an aspirin and going on her way, but a quick examination shows that the old man is in severe pain, and Mioara begins to suspect that he is gravely ill. Thus begins a long, unpleasant journey from one hospital to another, as Lazarescu faces a backlog of patients caused by a massive traffic accident, and the cold indifference of arrogant doctors who appear hesitant to cure a man who has seemingly destroyed his own health. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu was co-written and directed by Rumanian filmmaker Cristi Puiu. It was shown at the 2005 New York Film Festival, presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Theatrical Trailer
GreenCine Says:Death of Mr Lazarescu ($18.60). A pitch black comedy about Romania's archaic health care system? Sounds like a real treat, doesn't it? Not so fast. It's one of the best reviewed films of the year. "Both sad and darkly funny, the film is so sharply conceived and richly populated that it often registers like a Frederick Wiseman documentary, even though everything is scripted and every part played by a professional," raved Jonathan Rosenbaum in the Chicago Reader. "A heartbreakingly powerful masterpiece," adds Peter Rainer of The Christian Science Monitor.
THE DEATH OF MR LAZARESCU is, I suspect, one of the great humanist masterpieces of cinema: so much better and different from what I expected that I may be over-rating it. Time will tell. For now, I can't think of another film that brought me so close to people without a shred of sentimentality, undue nastiness or anything obvious or clichéd. Given its subject matter--an old man (well, 62, which may be old in Romania) whose family is gone or dispersed, becomes very ill and must be taken to hospital with no one acting as his advocate save one of the two emergency ambulance staff--I had to force myself to stick the DVD into the machine.
Once I began watching, however, I was hooked for the full 2-1/2 hours. And then I watched the very long interview with the director and the shorter one with an American doctor about our own health care system. The biggest surprise of the film was that, although I'd heard how the patient languishes in such inferior care (among people who don't care), this is not really the case. There is a certain MD you could easily knock across the room, and another pair you want to smack in the face. But there are many more medical professionals here doing their job as well as possible under very trying circumstances (a bus crash has provided the local hospitals with more emergencies than they can handle). I felt my first genuine affection for Romanians after watching this film, and I suspect this feeling will remain with me. Director/co-writer Cristi Puiu says he wanted to provide "testimony" with this film. He has, and of a very high order: moving, humorous, rich, compassionate and real.
I found this film to be very sad and disturbing. If you've ever lost a loved one that was in and out of hospitals this "comedy" will ring true and could have easily been set in the U.S. The abusive doctors were quite realistic and accentuated the need for a caretaker present at all times during health care.
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