The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

Over the course of this 2½-hour film, an elderly widower dies a slow, lonely, and painful death. 'œDid I mention it's a comedy?' said Jan Stuart in Newsday. The second effort from director Cristi Puiu is a harrowing, sometimes bitingly funny tour of Romania's hospital system. At the start, Dante Remus Lazarescu (all allusions intended) falls ill in his cheap apartment, and tries to self-medicate with pills and sickening homemade liquor. When he attempts to get help, hospital after hospital turns him away, and he dies alone. Even though the doctors are snobbish and unhelpful in giving Lazarescu the runaround, they're never portrayed as evil, said Peter Rainer in The Christian Science Monitor. Puiu's distanced, documentary-style camera sees no heroes or villains, 'œjust people who behave well or badly.' One of the few characters who behave well is Lazarescu's nurse and advocate, Mioara, said Stephen Holden in The New York Times. In her role, we can see Puiu's intentions. The movie isn't just an indictment of the Romanian medical community; neither is it an art-house film that mistakes depression for depth. 'œBy remaining at his side into the wee small hours while the rest of the world flutters around him,' the nurse does 'œthe human thing.' It's an especially warm and moving moral response within a film that paints such a bleak picture of institutional incompetence.

Rating: R

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