Monday, April 5, 2021

Collective (2019)

Nominated for Best International Feature and Best Documentary   This isn't the most accessible of the documentaries on offer this year, but it is an important one.

After a tragic fire in the Collective club that killed 27 people because there were no fire exits, mass protests against government corruption forced the Social Democrats party of Romania to step down and an interim government be put in its place until elections could be held.  In that time, 34 more burn victims died from bacterial infections received in the hospital.  The investigative news team of Sports Gazette received documents from whistleblowers that showed the hospital disinfectants were arriving diluted way beyond what their label said, making them effectively worthless.  This investigation led to discovery of widespread corruption in the medical sector.

Minor spoiler for people not up on international politics (me), this does not have a happy ending.  Don't get sick in Romania, I guess?  One of the more horrifying stats was that their ICU mortality was 90%.  By contrast, the US ICU mortality is 8%-19%, depending on where you are.  You'd be more likely to survive a medieval hospital stay than a modern Romanian one.  Corruption kills, people.

Also, as a warning, this shows actual footage of the fire inside the club that killed those people.

It's currently streaming on Hulu.
 

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