The Death of Mr. Lazarescu/4

Some more foreign films from last year that received accolades. From Romania, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, a harrowing black comedy about the inadequacies of the health care system. Directed by Cristi Puiu, the film concerns the hapless and shabby Mr. Lazarescu, played by Ion Fiscuteanu. When the film begins with him feeling unwell, with a headache and stomach upset. He is a sixty-two year-old man in generally poor health to begin with, and drinks to excess. He asks to borrow some medicine from his patient neighbors, and when he starts throwing up blood they call an ambulance. Enter Luminita Gheorghiu as the paramedic who will accompany him for several hours, through visits to four different hospitals, as his condition worsens.

Though this film is set in Bucharest, it seemed universal. I don't know if they have socialized medicine over there, but even in a country like the U.S., which does not, these kind of things happen routinely. The first visit, to an emergency room with a surly doctor who admonishes Lazarescu for drinking, ends with him being sent to a second one for a liver scan. A bus accident with several casualties complicates things, as space is tight. He is sent to a third hospital for emergency surgery (it is discovered he has a hemotoma), finds Gheorghiu sparring with arrogant doctors. By now Lazarescu is delirious, and refuses the surgery. Finally he is sent to a four hospital, but it seems that it's too late.

Though this film depicts a nightmare that none of us would want to experience, it has great moments of humanity. Lazarescu's neighbor provides some laughs, some of the doctors are kind (including the wise-cracking scan operator) and Gheorghiu's doggedness in sticking up for her patient is heroic.

From Russia comes 4, a confounding film by Ilya Khrjanovsky. The film begins reasonably enough, with three strangers meeting in a bar. They talk about what they do for a living: Oleg says he delivers water to the Kremlin. Marina is in advertising, her latest project a Japanese air ionizer, and Volodya tells a wild tale about working for a government cloning experiment. Soon enough we find out that all are lying: Oleg is a meat wholesaler, Marina a prostitute, and Volodya a piano tuner.

They go their separate ways. Volodya is arrested, I think for murdering a prostitute. Oleg has an extremely fussy father, who feeds him nothing but steamed food. Mostly we follow Marina, who learns that someone has died. She takes a train into the country and we discover that she is a quadruplet, and one of her sisters has died. The remaining sisters live and work in a community of old crones who make dolls.

I have no idea what is going on in this film. I do know that the number four makes recurring appearances, justifying the title, and that stray dogs play important roles. Mostly this is just film school dross. I suppose it appeals to cineastes who wear black and smoke imported cigarettes, but I say the czar has no clothes. It's not a bad film, and sometimes has arresting images, but I defy anyone to find something interesting about a five minute scene of a woman walking through the woods where nothing happens to her.

By the way, Russia must be a lousy place to live. Every film I've seen about contemporary Russia paints it as bleak (check out the fine but depressing film Lilya 4-Ever). Does the country have any beautiful landscapes? Do the people have any hope?