Collective

Collective (Colectiv)

Director: Alexander Nanau. Cast: Razvan Lutac, Mirela Neag, Catalin Tolontan 

This is an astonishing piece of work about the power that freedom of press can still have in uncovering the shocking truths about a whole nation rotten to the core: from scandals within the health care (patients left abandoned on their beds for days to the point that worms start to grow on them!), to criminal pharmaceutical companies, right to government itself. In doing so it exposes the corruption, the mob mentality, the lies, the cover-up, the hypocrisy, the cynicism on which the whole Romanian system seems to have been built on over the past decades. Filmed, edited, constructed and paced like a political thriller, this documentary manages to tell a rather complicated story in the clearest of ways, without ever resorting to voiceover, captions or talking heads: it’s exciting, gripping, infuriating, mind-blowing and incredibly sad. Every now and then we keep on cutting back to one of the survivors from a massive fire during a concert (the “Colectiv’’ of the title) where 80 young people died. A scene where she tries on a prosthetic hand is not just incredibly moving, but also a reminder that beyond all the criminal corporations, all the lies, money stolen and the political agendas, there are human lives at stakes here. Towards the second half, unexpectedly the film-makes go beyond closed doors, behind the scenes within the Goverment itself as we follow a newly appointed minister of Health, crusading to expose the corruption that came before him: maybe a little glimmer of hope that things one day might improve a little bit.

One of the best documentaries of the year.

On streaming platform right now (Amazon, Apple+, Sky)