Saturday, July 24, Delray Beach, Florida


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Collective (2020)

Available on Netflix and Prime Video

Directed, written, and produced by Alexander Nanau

Starring Catalin Tolontan, Camelia Roiu, and Tedy Ursuleanu

Collective is a documentary about corporate greed, government corruption, and inspiring investigative journalism in Romania. It has won many international awards, and is the first Romanian film to be nominated for an Oscar (Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature Film).

The Plot: In October 2015, a fire breaks out at a nightclub In Budapest. (The film has a few minutes of film of this.) 27 people die immediately. Another 37 die in the ensuing weeks and months because of a lack of proper medical care, particularly because of bacterial infections among the burn victims. Early investigation by the editor of The Gazette, a sports newspaper,  points to government corruption and a major scam with Hexi Pharma, the country’s largest drug manufacturer. Protests ensue. The government tries to deny it. The head of Hexi Pharma dies mysteriously in a car crash. More revelations come out. Eventually, the Social Democratic government is forced to resign, and the Minister of Health is replaced by an honest young guy… but in the next election, the Social Democrats win in a landslide.

 What I liked about it: This is, as I said, a story about corporate greed and government corruption. But what made it work for me was the very thorough coverage of the role journalism played in the outcome. What a nice contrast to the advocacy journalism we have in the US today.

What I wondered: The entire film was shot from the start with static cameras, lighting, etc. That suggests that it was the editor of The Gazette that made the decision to create the documentary. And that made me question the authenticity of some of the scenes.

 

Critical Response 

* “Collective presents a darkly effective overview of the cycle of political corruption and public cynicism that takes hold when government abrogates its responsibility to the people.” (Rotten Tomatoes)

* “A gripping, despairing exposé of institutional injustice.” (Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times)

* “A documentary for our times, deserving of widespread exposure.” (Jay Weissberg, Variety)

* “[The film] sketches out an honest, affecting, somewhat old-fashioned utopian example of what it takes to make the world better, or at least a little less awful.” (Manohla Dargis, The New York Times)

 

You can watch the trailer here.

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Virginia Woolf: Her Last Letter 

When people say that suicide is a selfish act, I think, “No, thinking that suicide is a selfish act is what is selfish.”

There is only one reason that people kill themselves: The pain of living has become unbearable.

We can all, to some degree, recognize the fearful thoughts and anguished feelings of others. But it is the height of arrogance to presume that we can experience the intensity of them.

By the time she was 22, Virginia Woolf had suffered two “nervous breakdowns.” They were brought on, some believe, by the deaths of her mother, her half-sister, and her father, all within a few years.

But depression is not a dark mantle that can be tossed aside after the precipitating event passes. It is more like the shadow of a monster that stalks silently behind you, ready to gobble you up if you slow your pace, even for a minute.

Woolf struggled with depression throughout her life. In March of 1941, she attempted but failed to drown herself. Several days later, she was “successful.”

She left her husband, Leonard, this note:

 

Dearest,

I feel certain that I am going mad again. I feel we can’t go through another of those terrible times. And I shan’t recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can’t concentrate. So I am doing what seems the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible happiness. You have been in every way all that anyone could be. I don’t think two people could have been happier till this terrible disease came. I can’t fight any longer. I know that I am spoiling your life, that without me you could work. And you will I know. You see I can’t even write this properly. I can’t read. What I want to say is I owe all the happiness of my life to you. You have been entirely patient with me and incredibly good. I want to say that – everybody knows it. If anybody could have saved me it would have been you. Everything has gone from me but the certainty of your goodness. I can’t go on spoiling your life any longer.

I don’t think two people could have been happier than we have been.

V.

(Source: Letters of Note)

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