A neighbor grudgingly tries to help him but feels the need to lecture him. This movie is a very realistic reflection of what old or seek people get in Bucharest after paying their medical assurances for a lifetime.
And I see how doctors who work at public hospitals are frustrated when they can't help their patients because hospital doesn't have the appropriate equipment. Ever since the fall of Communism in Romania the country has struggled trying to find its voice. 30 out of 39 found this helpful. 14 out of 14 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? She carries Mr. Lazarescu's X-rays around with her from one set of uncaring eyes to another. They are not even aware that they don't know how to go about it. 41 out of 46 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? 14 out of 18 found this helpful. By the end of it, he becomes so insignificant, that when he's lying limp on the stretcher, stripped naked, the camera holds him for a moment, and then, it does not even matter whether he's dead or alive. We're not that bad.) "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu" is one of the first, if not the first Romanian film to receive huge international fame and actually be released in America in recent times.
Maybe this is the reason it takes two hours and a half to watch it. Pity. 7 out of 8 found this helpful. This is a documentary-like shot movie about being old, lonely and dying. If you ever get a chance, try to go see this one. It is rather hard for this movie theme to put 5 hours of action in only one and a half; a theme where every detail, every word, and every expression of their faces matter. It is admirable how Cristi Puiu managed to show a part of how Romania used to be. I also read some of the comments and it is obvious that you guys in the West do not have the slightest clue as to what it is like in the post-communist countries despite 18-19 years of "freedom". I cannot but give it a straight 10 out of 10. Because I couldn't stop thinking that at least half of the population in my country has no chance but to assist to public hospitals and suffer that luck *every day*. And the reason these countries have this issues is because, well, like you've seen our economy minister saying it on TV, the big boys are trying to keep us down. It is apparent that he has had issues with alcohol in the past and is quite acerbic. Afterall Lazarus' story is about resurrection, not death. Each hospital suggests sending him to another one. Was this review helpful? I'm lucky I belong to a middle class that can afford private hospitals, but as I see on the news, people go to hospitals at five in the morning to ask for an appointment with a doctor. Mr Lazarescu is failed by every human being he encounters on his way from one hospital to the other..every human being, without exception..Even the nurse, who may appear to genuinely want to help the old man, is in fact driven by the urge to go home after a tiresome night..Mr Lazarescu loves his cats, and rightfully so.. Puiu continuously toys with the audience's nerves.. At a cold, constant, high-speed rhythm ,through brilliant acting, all the actors bring their equal share to the sharply realistic insight he offers. I suspect medical professionals would see much they recognize in this movie. Selfishness wrapped in amiable kindness,dignity trampled-over..Indifference,lack of education,tiredness,laziness,or mere stupidity are the expressions of a multifaceted cruelty showed under different angles: many indifferent people varying in stupidity and lack-of-interest: conceited doctors or neighbors (or shop assistants or parents or friends or cab-drivers or sons and daughters) squandering diminutive suffixes or cleaning up your vomit off your dirty shoes - but still aiming at nothing but a shallow,cheap and showy kindness which cannot replace the unconditioned sympathy and solidarity human relations have always (or have only started to)lack. Her job is to take sick people to hospitals. Do you know why I didn't enjoyed that movie? Was this review helpful? Surprisingly enough it is not pity that the viewer experiences at the sight of the old man's condition, at least not in the first place..pity falls somewhere in the backdrop of this sad story , its place being taken by feelings such as those I have just described above, feelings which almost get physical at some point...your body flinches on the inside while grappling with so much cruel indifference.. Cruelty. I've been through it with someone very dear to me, and i know what's happening in those hospitals. If they are not admitted, her life is meaningless.She is not portrayed as a heroine, and indeed is passive in the face of sarcasm by a smart-ass resident who mocks her description of Mr. Lazarescu's problems.
For whatever reasons it is sick - head (leadership), stomach (subsistence) and feet (stability). The steady pace of human disregard to a fellow-human's suffering brings death to the latter.. Death to our fellow-humans: "other people".