The Death of Mr. Lazarescu is a Romanian film that follows Lazarescu Dante Remus as he is taken by paramedics from hospital to hospital in a futile attempt to find medical treatment before his eventual death. He faces disrespectful young doctors and a bus crash that has overbooked emergency rooms in the local hospitals. The film is a chronological account of events on the night of Lazarescu's death. It takes place almost in real time, a two and one half hour movie that covers about five or six hours, and mainly brings to light the generation gap forming in modern civilizations.
The movie is told in almost real time, causing it to be slow and include much unnecessary action. While this effect can be detrimental to the film, it shows the night's experiences as Lazarescu would experience them. The frustration that the viewer experiences during all the time spent seemingly waiting around is a shared experience with the protagonist. He is in urgent need of medical care, yet the ticking clock of his body shutting down does not seem to concern anybody but him and the one of the two paramedics who is also in her later years.
The main theme of the movie is the generational conflict between young and old. Lazarescu has called for an ambulance all day, being dismissed by a younger, disinterested dispatcher, before his neighbor must call for an ambulance in order for Lazarescu to be treated. He is treated less than human in his old age and is only referred to as "Pops" by members of the younger generation. Similarly, his elderly paramedic's desperation to get treatment for Lazarescu seems to fall on deaf ears, especially given the fact that all of the hospitals are filled with critically injured bus crash victims. Even the older paramedic expresses a wish to get a hospital to admit Lazarescu so she can be rid of him. In the end he is passed from doctor to doctor and hospital to hospital as he dies alone on a stretcher, his being alone stressed throughout the movie, as younger hospital staff, with no sense of urgency whatsoever, prepare for the end of their night shift.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I liked how you briefed the reader on the movie's plot in the intro paragraph, and went on to open all the ideas you would present before you argued them more fully. Still, as far as a film review goes, I still desired more of an argument about local/global film.
ReplyDeleteIn the French blog page, Allyn argues that "The Death of Mr. Lazarezcu" is a local film, because of the scene selection. There were not too many places that an international audience could all relate to. For instance, there are hospitals in every country; but all of these were very localized, taking on the characteristics of the country.
I would have argued the point just said with your paragraph about real time cinematography. Not many films last two and a half hours. That was one of the reasons many of our classmates disliked it, actually. Therefore, this movie making technique is more nationalistic or localized than global.
In conclusion, you had much pertinent information, but I wish there was more . . . especially a concluding paragraph.
I reckon that this film review has only covered part of the key elements in the film. Other than the theme and the 'real time' effect, I would like say that naturalism is another point that distinguish this film from others. The camera follows the characters without much editing, no background music, the use of natural light have brought out the realism of life. This film is telling us the truth without exaggeration.
ReplyDeleteI like how u linked the frustration of the viewer watching the movie to the frustration that guy must have felt not getting any help. That is definitely something I had not thought about but is very significant and quite true. However you failed to address other themes of the movie such as its play on Hospitals in general both locally and globally. Also didn't address key things such as miss en scene of the movie or any other things that made this movie more unique outside of real-time usage.
ReplyDelete