Review of The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005) by Tony S — 11 Jan 2012

Funny, Yes; Comedy, No.

Improbably, this has some similarity with [i]Operation Petticoat[/i]. No, really. Doubtless everything that happens in the movie could happen to a real patient, has happened to a real patient, but it is improbable that all of it would happen to the [i]same[/i] patient, especially on the same night. In fact, I think all of us have experienced at least one or two, because several of the problems in the movie are all too common. It's illegal, in the US, to ship people from hospital to hospital once they've been diagnosed with a serious problem, but I think we've all dealt with doctors more interested in their status than in our problems. I think most people who've gone to an emergency room more than once have had to wait while accident victims or what have you are dealt with instead, more on which anon. For most of us, it hasn't been much of a problem, because for most of us, our own health problem wasn't that serious. But there are always exceptions.

Dante Remus Lăzărescu (Ion Fiscuteanu) is a bit of a crabby old man who lives alone with his cats. One night, he calls an ambulance, because he really isn't feeling well. He had ulcer surgery seventeen years earlier, and he thinks this might be related to that. But the ambulance takes a long time to get there, and he goes downstairs to talk to his neighbours while he waits. They tell him he should quit drinking. While he's there, his condition gets worse. Eventually, a nurse, Mioara (Luminita Gheorghiu), arrives, and she knows it's more than just a reaction to his ulcer surgery. She thinks he has colon cancer. Though she does tell him he should quit drinking. Then, she and the ambulance driver (Doru Boguta?) go through a long and complicated series of events, taking Mr. Lăzărescu from hospital to hospital. Along the way, he is found to have a subdural hematoma. He doesn't have colon cancer, though; he has liver cancer.

In general, I am not opposed to having the first people to get to a hospital be the first ones who are treated, but that's on the assumption of similar severity of complaint. It's quite probable that many of the accident victims, and we're told there are at least twenty, are seriously injured. But the reaction to the arrival of Mr. Lăzărescu is to announce that the hospital is full and he must go somewhere else. I'm willing to bet that at least some of those accident victims can wait. Mr. Lăzărescu cannot; the last shot implies to me that no care will arrive soon enough. Of course, it's true that the liver condition is untreatable, but no one knows that at the outset of the story. It's as though someone, somewhere decided that Mr. Lăzărescu wasn't important; after all, it takes until he's vomiting blood before they'll send an ambulance. We are given at best sketchy details about the accident, because its only importance is that it bumps Mr. Lăzărescu from treatment.

I think the names were chosen carefully. I don't speak Romanian, but can Lăzărescu fail to be a play on Lazarus? Can it be a coincidence that his name is Dante and his brother-in-law's name is Virgil? It is not improbable that what we are exploring are the Nine Circles of Romanian Health Care. Of course, it is unlikely that Lăzărescu will rise again, all things considered, but for the most part, he doesn't think much is wrong. At least not until it's obvious exactly how wrong everything is. Come to that, [i]The Divine Comedy[/i] doesn't end with Dante's exit from Hell; there are two more acts yet. (It's mostly that the interesting part is over.) We are supposed to see these names as cultural markers, I think, and it's entirely possible that the point of naming the main character Lăzărescu is to give us a false hope, one directly contradicted by the title. The steady decline of Mr. Lăzărescu's health isn't a surprise. We know he's going to die; it's right there in the title. But the name makes us believe the title might be lying.

However, the character for which I think we develop the most sympathy is poor, harassed Mioara. I don't think she much likes her patient, but she's determined to get him the best treatment possible. She's willing to stand up to doctors and be personally insulted in response. She's been doing this a long time. She knows the ins and outs. She fights for her patient--she drives him around Bucharest for five hours, after all. Her job is not done just because she gets him to the hospital door. She is a good, gentle woman and the only real hope Mr. Lăzărescu has. And the doctors treat her like dirt half the time. They don't want to hear her tell them what else has happened to the patient that night, because she's only a nurse, and what can a nurse tell them? Never mind that, in this case, it's what other doctors and other tests have shown. This is based in part on the real story of a man in similar straits abandoned by the ambulance drivers to die on the streets. Mioara would not have done that.