FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE The Death Of Mr. Lazarescu 

Is this really a story that would only be possible in Romania? An old, not very fragrant alcoholic, calls an ambulance. They ask so many questions that the patient is confused. He asks the neighbor for help. The ambulance has to come again... The Death Of Mr. Lazarescu accompanies this dying man for one night. Slowly he will slip out of the world - and nobody in the world will notice it. The film is by no means heartless, but does not make any effort to artificially heighten this drama. The fact is, a person dies and no one cares. Cristi Puiu's film sees everything, but never intervenes. Mr. Lazarescu (Ion Fiscuteanu) has long lived unnoticed in his Bucharest apartment. He has a sister in the surrounding area and a child in Canada. There is hardly any contact between the two. That's why he lies alone in the ambulance during this long night. We never get bored, we are too deeply involved. In the hospital Mr. Lazarescu is asked to fill in formulations and answer questions that he obviously does not understand. He is told that there is a problem with his liver and brain, but no one can solve it. Dryly one notices that everything else "Disney Channel" would be nonsense! But the movie doesn't really focus on the dying Mr. Lazarescu, who is finally lying there speechless. The focus is on a kind of hospital warden named Miora. Not a heroine, more like a passive person. However, she almost sarcastically notices how the patient is denied medical help. The doctor explains that without the patient's signature, he could go straight to prison. Finally Miora (Luminita Gheorghiu) finds a doctor who takes care of the patient - in the fourth hospital! The dying man is still wearing his dirty cap and only now is he being stripped and professionally washed... Cristi Puiu's work has always been seen as Krik in the Romanian health system. One customer of our video store even said that the real circumstances in Romania were much worse! I think the film is directed against the conditions in hospitals worldwide, where the staff is overworked and more problems than solutions exist. Mr. Lazarescu seems to be a damned man of this system no matter what he did before. It simply seems to be another detail in a chain of overlong night shifts and impossible situations. And Miora? Basically, she is constantly insulted by younger employees, all of whom do not have their experience. She could freak out, but she's been doing the job too long. And Lazarescu? When I think of him, it drives me crazy. Doesn't he deserve the full attention of the nursing staff? Here, however, it seems as if he is accepted as an industrial accident that the doctors can then relax and have a cup of coffee. Life goes on for them.