WHEN GOVERNMENT FAILS, WE ALL PAY THE PRICE.
One of the most lauded documentaries in recent years begins with a 2015 fire in a Bucharest nightclub that killed 27 people. Many more injured victims died in the following months due to a corrupt healthcare system in Romania that resulted in negligence. We follow a group of journalists led by the veteran Catalin Tolontan who begin to look into what went wrong and demand answers from politicians. Thereās also Vlad Voiculescu, the young man who replaces the Minister of Health, realizing that the whole system is fundamentally broken; and one of the victims of the fire whoās turned her scarred looks into art. As a film itās far from remarkable, but the reporting it offers has interesting, even horrifying, revelations and surprises.
2020-Romania-Luxembourg. 109 min. Color. Directed and photographed byĀ Alexander Nanau. Screenplay: Alexander Nanau, Antoaneta Opris.
Trivia: Original title: Colectiv.
European Film Awards: Best Documentary.
