ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

Usamah Harvey The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

mpower1112 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu has been described as "a black comedy". It is dark but there's nothing funny about an old man's trip through the 8th circle of hell represented by Romania's socialized health system. We're with him every excruciating second as a platoon of nurses and doctors pass the buck on his care until it is too late. A real heroine is an ambulance nurse who suffers every indignity along with the old man. Her matter-of fact exit after it is clear he won't survive is heartbreaking; just another day in an overburdened health system.I wouldn't advise anyone over 50 to see this film. It is tediously long and casts a cool eye on all that is depressing about getting old. Just one example: the doctors and nurses almost without exception upbraid the old man for his drinking, one reason they were careless in their assessments of his condition.The medical consensus is that he was just an old drunk who refused to take care of himself. Temperance zeal is apparently alive and well in Romania. This is one of those movies which you suffer through but it lingers long after the last credits roll. So opposite the movies you enjoy while viewing but forget the moment you leave the theater.

bbrooks94 The noughties has offered up another masterpiece. They are rare in this decade, yet here is another one. Very realistic film which follows a man who is suffering terrible pains in his head and stomach, moving by ambulance from his dingy flat to hospital after hospital in Romania, each one providing a different diagnosis and refusing his entry due to lack of space. Highly recommended! I should add, while it describes itself as a dark comedy drama, it isn't obviously funny (filled with gags or jokes) but incredibly subtle. Despite the depressing situation on screen I somehow wasn't feeling down. There is a satirical bite to this film which one may not notice but is prevalent throughout. The close tracking camera and tightness of the frame truly make you feel like you are sitting beside Lazarescu as he trundles along on his depressing and painful journey. Very moving experience.

MarraMara It was the most impressing movie i've seen in a really long time. I almost have no words to describe it. Inspired from hypochondria that has hunted him for years, and the medical system in Romania, Cristi Puiu directs a very realistic masterpiece. You, the viewer are practically the third person in the movie. After a while you feel like you are there, in the action, and it's nothing you can do to help Mr. Lazarescu. The actors are doing as well,a very good job. Excellent actors like Florin Zamfirescu, Ion Fiscuteanu, are simply amazing. They portrait perfectly the east-European way of being.The movie it's genius, and deeply moving. I recommend it with my entire heart.

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?