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THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU Send This Review to a Friend
One of the pleasures of the 2005 New York Film Festival was the opportunity to see the unusual Romanian import, “The Death of Mr. Lazarescu,” now getting its commercial release. We’re all privy to chilling hospital stories, and this film, directed by Cristi Puiu, is deeply moving as it dramatizes the saga of a man in Bucharest who has fallen ill and is being shunted from hospital to hospital in a nightmarish experience that seals his doom.
The film works so well because it is told in a spare, matter-of-fact style that picks up a multitude of nuances concerning rescue staff, hospital ambiance and doctors who are overworked and sometimes callous in an effort to carry on with their duties. There is also an arrogance that can make one angry.
Ion Fiscuteanu plays Lazarescu, and Luminta Gheorghiu does an impressive job as a rescue worker who in effect becomes the victim’s ombudswoman as she refuses to let the system cast him aside. She stays with him through the night, doing her utmost to see that he gets the care he needs even while growing frustrated and impatient.
The film calls to mind experiences one might have in our own country, given the crowded conditions and the pressures that exist. The style is utterly naturalistic, and the drama sweeps us into its orbit as we follow Lazarescu’s journey and watch him getting weaker and weaker.
The story is filled with ifs…if he were diagnosed properly earlier in the evening…if the hospitals were not so crowded at that moment as a result of an accident…if there were more kindness and less arrogance. But the patient is steadily headed toward his grave. The film, as grim as it is, stirs our own feelings of sympathy and hunger for humanity, as well as appreciation for this work of art. A Tartan Films release.
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