I must admit that when a documentary is billed as “the best ever” the cynic in me thinks it’s probably just market spin. Consequently it was with some reluctance that I started watching Collective (Colectiv). I’m happy to report the movie was a fascinating story of greed, corruption, medical mismanagement, fraud, a suspicious a car accident, the power of investigative journalism, and the bravery of one man.
Collective has received acclaim from critics, the European Film Awards, the National Society of Film Critics, been nominated at the 93rd Academy Awards for the Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature Film categories, becoming the first Romanian film to be nominated for an Academy Award. If that’s not enough to get you interested there’s also this …
In 2015 a fire breaks out in a Bucharest nightclub called Colectiv. The lack of proper fire/safety inspections and fire extinguishers results in 180 people injured and 27 killed. The public is understandably outraged. But the problems don’t end there.
As the injured lie in hospital, you’d expect them to get better, but after several months the body count rises to 37. One investigative journalist, Cătălin Tolontan, working at a Romania newspaper looks into the case.
Mass protests increase as more information is uncovered and as a result the Social Democratic Party, is forced to resign from government.
Other journalists join Tolontan as they uncover a rafter of medical negligence at the public hospitals. This includes shocking images of patients infected with maggots. As more and more stories emerge and medical staff dare to speak up they learn that central to this was the alleged watering down of disinfectant. But all the documentation states this is not the case.
Undeterred the journalists test samples of the disinfectants used and find they are only 10% of what the recommended amount, and these levels are being used across the entire 200 hospital network. The journalists publicize this finding along with others suggesting the government lied on several levels.
Eventually the Health Minister of the day decides to investigate the issue, but somehow the findings show the disinfectant was 95 percent effective.
I won’t spoil the rest of the movie for you, but I can tell you there is bribery, corruption, criminal investigations, hospital mismanagement, a car crash, which could be an accident, murder or suicide, a new Health Minister and an election which may or may not put an end to all this.
Collective is a fascinating movie that is definitely deserving of all those awards. The documentary gives you a great appreciation of investigative journalism. It also explores the difficulties of trying to do the right thing within a very broken system. Most of all it leaves you in awe of the bravery of the journalists, how lucky we are to have people like that in the world. It’s frightening to think this happened so recently.
For more information go to Luna Cinemas
Rating: 8.5/10
