The story is very simple. Mr. Lazarescu, an older man, has been suffering from bad headaches for several days and finally feels the need to call an ambulance to take him to the hospital. Three times hospitals refer him to other hospitals with the excuses of being too full, not having enough staff, or not having the right equipment. When Mr. Lazarescu arrives at hospital B from hospital A, the first comment at hospital B is to ask why he was brought there, since hospital A is the better place for him. It is only through the persistence of the nurse in the ambulance that Mr. Lazarescu is not just put on a gurney and left to suffer and die.
A major challenge of the movie is that Lazarescu is not a real sympathetic character--he is an unkempt alcoholic living alone with nobody who much cares for him. He loves his cats and seems to make an effort with an unresponsive sister. but a daughter in Canada is, for reasons unknown, totally out of the picture. We never know how Lazarescu wound up in his sorry state, but in many ways this is crucial to the power of the film, since it forces you to address the question of the value of each individual life, no matter how ordinary. You can understand how easy it would be to dismiss this seemingly insignificant man. Indeed, most of the health care providers tended to view Lazarescu as a problem that they would just as soon not deal with, and from their perspective of being overworked and overwhelmed and having to fill out multiple forms, you could see where they were coming from. But you keep being brought back to the realization that here is a human being in pain who needs help and, except for the nurse, that is not a big concern of those whose job it is to provide that help.
I was sobered by the comment from the doctor who said that he needed Lazarescu's signature in order to operate unless he was incapable of signing, so they might want to drive him around for awhile until he was incapable.
The questions brought up about health care are enough to drive you crazy. How much care should a country provide for each of its citizens in light of the fact that doing everything for everybody will ultimately bankrupt the country? I think Lazarescu would have gotten better care in the United States, since hospitals are required to admit patients to the emergency room, but unless significant reforms are put in place, it is only a matter of time where the situation in the U.S. will be just as portrayed in Romania as in this movie.
It's hard to watch this without thinking that someday you may be in Lazarescu's situation. The line from the movie that still haunts me was from the doctor who commented that Lazarescu's hematoma should be operated on so he could then go home and later die of colon cancer. I am sure that if I were in Lazarescu's place, I would want the pain to go away. But so I could live to die a painful death over the next year?
I found any humor to be had here to be very black.
A major challenge of the movie is that Lazarescu is not a real sympathetic character--he is an unkempt alcoholic living alone with nobody who much cares for him. He loves his cats and seems to make an effort with an unresponsive sister. but a daughter in Canada is, for reasons unknown, totally out of the picture. We never know how Lazarescu wound up in his sorry state, but in many ways this is crucial to the power of the film, since it forces you to address the question of the value of each individual life, no matter how ordinary. You can understand how easy it would be to dismiss this seemingly insignificant man. Indeed, most of the health care providers tended to view Lazarescu as a problem that they would just as soon not deal with, and from their perspective of being overworked and overwhelmed and having to fill out multiple forms, you could see where they were coming from. But you keep being brought back to the realization that here is a human being in pain who needs help and, except for the nurse, that is not a big concern of those whose job it is to provide that help.
I was sobered by the comment from the doctor who said that he needed Lazarescu's signature in order to operate unless he was incapable of signing, so they might want to drive him around for awhile until he was incapable.
The questions brought up about health care are enough to drive you crazy. How much care should a country provide for each of its citizens in light of the fact that doing everything for everybody will ultimately bankrupt the country? I think Lazarescu would have gotten better care in the United States, since hospitals are required to admit patients to the emergency room, but unless significant reforms are put in place, it is only a matter of time where the situation in the U.S. will be just as portrayed in Romania as in this movie.
It's hard to watch this without thinking that someday you may be in Lazarescu's situation. The line from the movie that still haunts me was from the doctor who commented that Lazarescu's hematoma should be operated on so he could then go home and later die of colon cancer. I am sure that if I were in Lazarescu's place, I would want the pain to go away. But so I could live to die a painful death over the next year?
I found any humor to be had here to be very black.