doug_park2001 Lonely, retired Mr. Lazarescu becomes ill one night. His neighbors call an ambulance, and he's taken on a bizarre tour of Bucharest's hospitals, each of which shuffles him over to the next.I can understand the negative reviews here. By necessity, THE DEATH of MR. LAZARESCU is bleak, repetitive, and confined in settings. I can also understand its being a labeled a comedy, though it's one of the very darkest sort. While definitely not for those who want fast action, sophisticated effects, and/or just something really fun and uplifting, the acting is so natural and the cinematography so plainly real that DML becomes one of those films that will completely immerse a willing audience.As a satire of medical care for the poor, aged, and unconnected, there's nothing more effective. Using simple narrative, it shows what so many recent documentaries have merely tried to show. While set in a small Eastern European nation, it's likely to strike a chord just about anywhere. Though non-Romanian audiences may have to do some quick look-ups and online translations, there is clever symbolism--more subtle but just as apt as the name of the protagonist--in the names of the doctors, nurses, and facilities.

alokparanjape I thought the film, above all was a brilliantly crafted, perfectly paced film. Its narrative was so well developed that the film, like life, lent itself to a lot of interpretation. What I found most intriguing was the power dynamics in the whole medial system and then by extension in the society. The colourful old man with his cats in his apartment is the king to start off with. He has supreme authority, he's the owner of the house. He enjoys freedom to drink, to live the way he wants, and he's not about to entertain anybody's objections to the way he lives his own life. The moment he requires someone else's help, he loses his authority. The neighbour who's better than him is now in control. then the nurse, then the doctors, then the doctors, then the doctors. every time as one person loses his authority, Mr. lasarescue becomes more and more insignificant. because he becomes more and more dependent. 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. The entire process, his entire journey in the film is a constantly gradual degradation of his independence, his freedom and his dignity as a person, as a human being. This entire journey is the death of his personality, his significance. This is The Death of Mr. Lasarescue.Can't wait to see more from this director!

Gordon-11 This film is about Mr Lazarescu, who is a lonely alcoholic who does not take good care of himself, and his struggle to get medical help in the capital of Romania.From the beginning, we see that Mr Lazarescu was arguing on the phone, indicating that his health was quite OK. However, his health quickly turned for the worse, with headache and abdominal pain.After finally making it to the hospital (and it was 50 minutes into the film), he got no sympathy from the doctors. He got dismissed to another hospital. From this moment, we already see that how judgmental people are. The society does not value the drunk people. They get second class treatment, if any at all. The film brutally reflects how the society treats the alcoholics by stereotyping them and ignoring their needs.In the second hospital, he was already showing neurological signs. I didn't expect this, as I (and the doctors in the film) thought his headache was due to him being drunk. He got sent away again, and when he reached the third hospital, he was in critical condition. Because of a silly ego trip the doctor had with the ambulance woman, Mr Lazarescu was denied emergency treatment. According to ethical principles, there is no need for consent for life saving treatments, and the doctor should know it. I think that this scene is used to portray how people bend the rules for their own convenience, no matter how unscrupulous it is.It was minimalistic and slow, but still there were many small bits and pieces that made me laugh. For example, the overly helpful neighbour's wife who kept trying to give food. And the wife's comment on how Mr Lazarescu's puke was different from her husband's puke because of the lack of sausages. And the ambulance woman's diagnosis of cancer, which seemed ridiculous at first, but became ghastly correct later in the film. And Mr Lazarescu's initial resistance to lie down and then later asked for permission to lie down. And the doctor's insistence to borrow a mobile phone charger. All these little things made me laugh. So yes, this film IS black comedy.Mr Lazarescu's acting was very impressive. He was able to portray a spectrum of mental state from being lucid to being confused. And as he became confused, I really felt sorry for him. It was also interesting that he insisted on calling himself using the Hungarian way (surname first), despite having a clearly Romanian surname. Though it was explained that he had a Hungarian wife, I felt this issue could have been explored further.The camera work was realistic and raw. I felt I was shadowing Mr Lazarescu's final hours, as if I was there in the flat, on the ambulance and in the hospital.I was also impressed by the facilities they have in the Romanian hospitals. They used good quality tourniquets, used vacuettes for blood taking, and had very fast labs for blood tests. Unfortunately the staff were less sympathetic.I found the film captivating. It felt a lot shorter than 2.5 hours!

bobgeorge1 The Death of Mr Lazarescu is a film that challenges. It is long. 153 minutes long. It has the weighty subject matter that the title suggests. A man of 63 who lives alone with his 3 cats and the comfort of his home made booze is taken from hospital to hospital where busy doctors use the little power they have to make sure they are not responsible for his care. I had expected it to be about alienation and a poor society with a poverty of care. But what was striking was the opposite. One must fear for the Romanians about to become part of the Mighty European Union. This man lives in dowdy circumstances; his home reminded me of my childhood home with tacky plastic table cloths and bland wall tiles. Even the cats are indifferent to him. But there were neighbours; they go into each other's homes; they offer food; they argue over the best course of help. The Nurse who takes him from Hospital to Hospital shows real caring and sees beyond the smell of alcohol that creates the first pre-judgement for everyone. Those rivalries between the different medical professions is universal I'd assume. I found this a tough film to watch. If you've sat with someone dying you'll know how hard it is. The only thing I did wonder throughout was why someone who has had a headache for days would wear a woolly hat in bed?