Review of The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005) by Michael H — 18 Nov 2008
The advertisement for The Death of Mr. Lazarescu calls it The Most Acclaimed Comedy of the Year, but I did not find myself laughing much as I watched the physical deterioration of a 60-something year old Romanian man named Mr.
Dante Remus Lazarescu. Maybe I just don't get Romanian humor (the gum-smacking CT scan guy was funny though)! The movie is a bleak, matter-of-fact journey through the Romanian health care system, and we are taken along for the ambulance ride as poor Mr.
Lazarescu gets shuttled from doctor to doctor, hospital to hospital, like a stale holiday fruitcake that nobody wants and keeps getting regifted. The movie is scripted, but feels like a documentary and makes you feel like you're right there in the hospital, taking a big whiff of stale urine stench.
Names play a significant role in the film... navigating through Bucharest hospitals is like a slow descent into the multiple layers of hell in Dante's Inferno; the ambulance nurse navigates Mr. Lazarescu through the health care maze like Virgil guides Dante through Hell; the name Lazarescu brings to mind Lazarus, and we wonder if our ailing character will be resurrected at the end of the movie.
Although the Romanian health care structure is worlds apart from the US system, there are things that feel familiar... perhaps bureaucracy, indifference, egos, and fatigued and overworked health care providers are common problems that plague any health care system.
This would be an interesting film to show as a double feature with Sicko.
This review of The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005) was written by Michael H on 18 November 2008.
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu has generally received very positive reviews.
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