The Best Films of the Zeroes: 16

16. THE DEATH OF MISTER LAZARESCU. (2006)
Directed by Cristi Puiu

Romanian cinema underwent something of a critical boom throughout the zeroes, starting with this terrific drama, about an old, cantankerous man’s last hours on earth. The film begins with Mr Lazarescu suffering from chest pains, and calling a doctor. Upon examination, the doctor tells him he needs to be in hospital, and calls him an ambulance, which begins a hellish night. Trafficked endlessly from hospital to hospital, his health deteriorating all the way, Lazarescu becomes more and more of an isolated and tragic figure.

Cristi Puiu’s film is one of the bleakest, most incisively angry films of the decade. Puiu’s style is reminiscent of the Dardennes brothers, particularly LE FILS and L’ENFANT, it’s concerned with the degradation of society from the viewpoint of society’s barely visible underclass. With a terrific central performance from Ion Fisciteanu, whose character is increasingly moved into the shadows, as his health deteriorates – indeed, as we approach the end, he’s become almost a shell of a man. It’s a staggeringly understated, yet physical, piece of acting.

While Puiu is working on a series of six films set in, and, about, Bucharest, this is a film that has a universal relevance. Everybody, everywhere, is worried about the state of their healthcare, and while it may be tempting to judge Romania’s system harshly, it is worth pointing out that at no point is he refused treatment due to a lack of insurance. Yes, the hospitals here are stretched, the workers are tired, grouchy, and Lazarescu is treated badly. His death in the system is a lonely and unpleasant one. His final hours are not touched widely by kindness or affection.

While the film could be seen as an indictment, solely, of Romania’s healthcare system, the problems that Lazarescu deals with here are universal. He deals with a lack of respect, he clearly lives an impoverished life, his lack of family and friends mean that nobody seems to give him the appropriate amount of attention, or to deal with him in a humane way.

My fourth favourite European film of the decade, THE DEATH OF MISTER LAZARESCU is socially conscious filmmaking. It was compared to 1408 EAST OF BUCHAREST and 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS. This is a different film, though – the only one set in modern day Romania, as opposed to Ceaucescu’s communist regime. It’s a bleak and stark film, one which offers a coruscating indictment of a society that allows its elders to be treated this way.