OVP: Collective (2020)

Film: Collective (2019)

Director: Alexander Nanau

Oscar History: 2 nominations (Best Documentary Feature, International Feature Film-Romania)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

As I mentioned last week when the Oscar nominations were announced, I will be making a concerted effort to see as many of the 2020-21 OVP nominees as possible before the ceremony on April 25th.  It looks like most (though not all at this point-I'm missing one key holdout) of the films are available via streaming platforms, so we should largely be done with the year by that time, if not completely finished.  As a result, we're going to devote this week's reviews to films that I have recently (in the past few days) seen, but have not reviewed that are among our contenders for this year's ceremony.  We'll find out in about a month whether or not they actually emerge with little gold statues, but right now they are in that "will they win?" glow so they're the most fun to discuss.  We'll start out with Collective, nominated in two categories and only the second film to be nominated for Best International Feature Film and Best Documentary Feature.

(It's a documentary, so like, spoiler alerts shouldn't be necessary but it is pretty twisty so I'll give you one anyway) The movie starts with what turns out to be something of a misdirect.  Initially we see the Collectiv club in Bucharest, Romania, which caught fire & due to a lack of fire exits & proper safety inspections caused the deaths of 27 people who were trapped in the building.  As the film unfolds, we see the movie shift away from this fire, instead centering around Romania's healthcare system, which failed the public (and 37 more people who died in the aftermath of the fire) through neglect & misuse of health supplies through watered-down disinfectants.  The film ends in a deeply tragic ending, with the reforms sought after by a temporary health administrator largely dismissed, as a sweeping election of the Social Democrats means that the new hospital administrator they appoint is largely unqualified for the job, meaning it's likely that the hospital will continue to cut corners (and kill people in the process).

Collective gains its name from the tragic fires that resulted in the death of 27 people, but it focuses instead on corruption in the Romanian healthcare system, how cost-cutting and government coverups resulted in myriad patients dying from infection.  This is horrifying, gripping journalism, a dangerous kind in a country that struggles with living up to traditional democratic norms.  The filmmakers & the journalists involved in the film deserve credit for bringing such human rights violations to light.

However, film is more than just great ideals, and the movie itself is not lensed or presented in a compelling way.  The film meanders, a series of press conferences & conversations around tables that feel like live footage, but there's nothing cinematic about the delivery.  I struggle with grading documentaries as a whole, but I'll be honest-this one is easier for me.  This is a case of a worthwhile topic, something that the public should be aware of, but when you start to compare it to narrative features in a category geared toward narrative features, it loses in term of its technical prowess, as there's not a lot of artistic skill in the way we are bringing this story to your screens.