One correction....NOT a comedy!
Added 1/25/2010
According to many viewers, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu DVD is mislabeled; it is most certainly not a comedy, but more a depressing, painfully sad semi-documentary. Directed by Romanian Cristi Puiu, the film runs over two hours and the focus reveals a day-in-the-life of a sad old man, alcoholic and sick as his illness takes him from several hospitals, bureaucracy, incompetence, and heightened by uncaring physicians and staff. This is clearly not funny, and I cannot imagine it ever being intended to be. But somewhere along, the DVD labels boasts "the most widely acclaimed comedy of the year".
Mr. Lazarescu is nearing 63, lives alone with his three cats and has little family further away. He drinks heavily and becomes sick, complaining that his head hurts. An ambulance aide accompanies him through his journey to wellness, however, he is turned down from hospital to hospital for various reasons. Much of the dilemma involves overcrowding at the hospitals due to a huge vehicle accident with numerous dead and injured. This complicates his admittance and care.
The ordeal takes him through the entire night as he encounters rejection, absurdities, bureaucratic policies, etc. etc. The offensive smell of alcohol remains on his breath as doctors chastise him profusely. He is not treated with passion and/or kindness. However, with the constant advocacy of the ambulance aide, we do observe some compassion and concern for a human.
Aside from the pain and anguish of seeing a human mistreated by the medical profession, you can view this has a day in the life or semidocumentary on the health care system. The movie runs way too long, and often one wonders, (as the DVD cover claims) "where is the comedy?"
I can only imagine that the director's intent on the length was to give the viewer a sense of the timeframe, the frustration, the eminent danger of death, the absurdity of the system. But for the viewer, the over two hours is difficult to endure. You will hear numerous medical terms, providing a chilling account of the speculation of illness. The subtitles are clear and easy to read.
Not for the squeamish...... Rizzo
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Frustrating and Compelling...
Added 12/11/2009
I rented the film because of the many awards; this may be the first film in a "new wave" of Romanian cinema, though I'm not too familiar with the movement; I could be wrong. The DVD I watched had subtitles that were grossly blurred, but it wasn't too hard to figure out what was going on. I'm just sorry I missed some of the clever award-winning dialogue. The DVD extras are plentiful enough, though an interview with the very un-charismatic director, Cristi Puiu, was a drag. The trailer was rife with accolades claiming it to be the best comedy in years. I guess I missed a lot of the black humor, other than a running joke about the ineptitude of the medical system in Romania. This long film, presented in a "real time" way, was never dull. Director Puiu created a quasi-documentary, almost like looking over his shoulder at this sweet, goofy guy who calls the paramedics because he's sure he's dying. Veteran actor Ian Fiscuteanu handles this pivotal role with a natural charm and nuance that makes you really care. There's a remarkable performance by Luminta Gheorghiu as the paramedic who accompanies him though the hellish odyssey. Her simple insight belies the intelligece of the hospital workers and doctors who don't seem to know what the hell is wrong with this man. Also, her well staged subtlety makes her a powerful presence.The Romanian condition seems bleak, though real people emerge. The 2007 film "4 Months..." was even more bleak, and equally compelling. I'm suddenly interested in the development of Romanian film. Do you think a real knee-slappin' comedy might emerge... soon...ever? That would be interesting.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
Oh those wacky Romanians
Added 3/11/2009
This was a comedy? Who laughed at it, Josef Mengele? This was a bureaucratic tragedy that moved at a glacial pace, which I suppose was done intentionally so that the viewer could experience the endless indifference of the hospital staffs firsthand, but it killed any sense of urgency. This film is cited by some as a cautionary tale against the ills of socialized medicine, but I've seen news reports of people falling on the floor in U.S. ER's and laying there to die as people step over them and go about their business, so there are breakdowns in all systems. The doctors in this film are more concerned with maintaining their esteemed status at the top of the medical pecking order above the nurses, EMTs and of course patients, rather than devoting their energy to the task at hand. Despite the title of this film, Mr. Lazarescu doesn't die during the course of the film, despite receiving little in the way of treatment, so there is no cathartic moment where the viewers experience any real emotions, other than pity, shame or boredom. I'm trying to demand more from Hollywood, and I can't give foreign films a free pass either when it comes to substandard product, so I can't give this movie more than a failing grade. The acting was top notch, but other than being an overly long exercise in beating the viewer over the head to make a point, it failed to entertain beyond a few moments here and there.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
If this is humor, let's get serious!
Added 11/20/2008
My teenage son and I had the evening without 'Mom' and without homework, since the trimester had just ended for him with a visit to the dissection lab at UCSF. All his friends still had one more final, so he graciously asked me if I'd like to watch a movie with him. We went to the video shop, and he selected Mr. Lazarescu on the basis of the blurbs on the packaging, describing it as "a black comedy," "the most acclaimed comedy of the year," and showing a row of prize icons from Cannes, Toronto, Chicago, and New York festivals. We trotted home with high expectations.
A quarter hour into the film, having watched a very shabby alcoholic old man in his cat-infested single apartment struggle 'in denial' with a medical crisis, my son and I looked at each other in some distress and said "This is a comedy?" Eventually, as the gruesome scene rolls on in slightly condensed "real time," an ambulance arrives and Mr. Lazarescu is taken on an odyssey of cruelty and indifference to his humanity from hospital to hospital. The ambulance nurse shows a kind of embittered dutifulness and commitment to her patient's well-being, but the doctors are uniformly disdainful, arrogant, and weary, more interested in flirting with each other and in griping about their overload than in dealing with this sad old drunk whose condition deteriorates before our eyes.
My son didn't fall asleep. That's high praise from him for any film that's slower-paced than Eddy Murphy or Vince Vaughn.
Myself, I have a sardonic daydream of finding myself in a packed theater, somewhere in the world, where everybody is laughing hysterically at this film while I sit in appalled silence. Misery and shameful behavior don't add up to humor in my mind. I don't mean that this is a bad film. It's actually quite impressive in its gritty naturalism, with deliberately shoddy camera work and 'acting' so embarrassingly realistic than you have to wonder how such actors were recruited. It's jaw-droppingly horrible - despair wallowing in filth - and thus quite fascinating.
I've read a couple of other reviews here on amazon, and I find that some viewers have taken the film as an "indictment" of the woeful results of a socialized medical system. If that's the intention, then the film is completely dishonest and misleading. I've had quite a lot of experience (alas!) with the national health care systems of Western Europe - in Italy, Spain, France, and Sweden - and I've never observed anything as dysfunctional as what's shown in Mr. Lazarescu. I've gotten prompter and more courteous attention in clinics there than at Kaiser Hospitals in Washington DC and California. I'm willing enough to believe the portrayal of affairs in Romania until anyone gives contrary testimony. The picture of Romanian life in this film inspires a pretty grim prognosis for that country's recovery from its despicable dictatorship.
1 out of 3 people found this helpful.
|
Can't say yet
Added 10/1/2008
Well, I stayed up late to watch this the first time and that was a mistake. My Romanian is not very advanced so I had to read the subtitles. I fell asleep not too far in. I guess this is a movie for someone who likes movies to have a "real-life" pace.... real life is pretty slow sometimes. The acting was quite good.... but again... I prefer movies to be somewhat entertaining and not just real.... I probably slept too long to glean anything more than this: that the last few hours of life can be kinda ordinary.
I've just read all the above reviews and I guess I should rewatch it... I doubt anyone will get this far and not realize that it was the intent of the director to make an uber-realistic movie. This time, I'll start watching it much earlier.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
