12 major publications of the world, including New York Times, Financial Times, The Guardian and Los Angeles Times, Praise A Thing Done in Romania | News, News Romania | Freedom

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Tom McCarthy, the director of the Oscar-winning film Spotlight, will present the Romanian documentary “Colectiv” to American audiences today at an online event. Also on Friday, Alexander Nanau’s film will be released in the UK and Canada.

“The truth has power”

Journalists report that the director of the documentary “Colectiv”, Alexander Nanau, joins Cristi Puiu, Cristian Mungiu, Corneliu Porumboiu and other creators of the new wave, narrators of a world “that is not Hollywood”, as the Financial Times writes.

Despair still reigns here. But let us know, the truth has power, at least, in Romania, three decades after Nicolae Ceausescu.

Danny Leigh, Financial Times:

The Financial Times and The Guardian give the film “Collective” 5 out of 5 stars. The British newspaper The Times considers the Romanian documentary as the best film on journalism for “All the President’s People”, and The Globe and Mail, of Toronto, says that the art of cinema was dedicated to idealizing the importance of journalism as in “Collective”.

“Almost incredibly visionary”

Journalists in the US, UK and Canada believe the “Collective” message is universal and connects to what people are experiencing in even the most advanced healthcare systems.

“In November 2020, eight months after the COVID-19 pandemic that devastated the United States, there is no doubt that speaking of the real dangers that arise when the government lies to its citizens in a public health crisis, this film is almost incredible to watch. and the story of a seriously ignored warning, “writes Chicago Tribune of the documentary made by Alexander Nanu and whose team included Antoaneta Opriș (writer), Mihai Grecea and many others.

Captivating, punchy and incredibly strong, “Collective” is easily the documentary of the year.

Katie Walsh, Chicago Tribune:

The humanism of the victims Collective and civic movements

The common denominator of all publications is the praise of the courage of the victims of abuse in Romanian politics and the health system, which are only the serious and threatening form of what is happening, on a different scale, around the world.

Dozens of articles talk about the determination of women and men in Romanian society who oppose “the depths of this corruption, which has generated cynicism and overwhelming despair of the soul, both among leaders and citizens” (Los Angeles Times).

The input of whistleblowers made possible what the San Francisco Chronicle calls: “The relentless effort of reporters to expose corruption.”

The danger of staying with changes “on top of the iceberg”

At the same time, change is not just a matter of some people, no matter how persistent they are, but a choice of people, all people, if they want it, writes the international press in “Collective”.

Without citizen involvement, as The Telegraph reporters observe, “everything takes on an epic aspect at first, but the ramifications in Romania are short-term.”

And if the struggle remains in the hands of “small groups of scurrilous, sleepless people putting their heads together”, then “such struggles will be limited to the top of the iceberg”.

The telegraph:

The New York Times: “We need stubborn and angry people: journalists, politicians, artists, activists”

“Some documentaries assure you that the world is better when they are finished (the injustice has been exposed); others insist it might be better (call the right number to find out how). “Collective” does not offer such palliatives. Instead, sketch an honest, emotional, somewhat utopian, old-fashioned example of what it takes to make the world better or at least less terrible. ”

The arc of the moral universe can tend towards justice. But, because “Collective” presents itself with distressing details and a sense of decency, deep and moving, it takes stubborn and angry people – journalists, politicians, artists, activists – to knock on that bow until it begins to bend. , perhaps in the right direction.

Manohla Dargis, The New York Times:

“I would have liked to know how a sports newspaper, Gazeta Sportulor, which usually features football teams, has cultivated such an extraordinary investigative team. “

The Guardian: “It’s also a warning to us”

“The surplus from taxpayers’ taxes covered the pockets of some private individuals in what you might call Romania’s pharmaceutical-government complex,” wrote the British newspaper The Guardian, using the classic metaphor of the denounced “military-industrial complex”. by US President Eisenhower. The Guardian has written twice about the Romanian film “Colectiv” in the past week.

There was a moment when I felt like peeing under my chair: when journalists from Gazeta Sportulilor were shown a video shot in secret, with worms fighting in the wound of a poorly treated patient. If it were in a fictional film, the metaphor would be rejected as too obvious.

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian:

“In part, Colectiv refers to the terrible authoritarian abilities that survived the fall of Ceausescu in Romania; in part it is about the colossal money that must be raised, in the style known in Moscow, by exploiting national assets ”.

“It is also a warning to us (No – UK), how attractive a public health system is to a certain type of well-connected businessman whose drive is to save money and make a profit ”.

Los Angeles Times: “The brilliant and outrageous” Collective “documentary on the Romanian healthcare system is a must-see in the COVID era”

“A year ago,“ Colectiv ”was a non-fiction game, a journalistic thriller built with the method of a film about the political system. Seen now, during the worst global health crisis in more than a century, the way Nanau exposes medical malpractice and pharmaceutical corruption seems like a grim warning, a prequel to an ongoing real-life horror film. distribution “.

If “The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu” was a drama that unfolded with unshakable realism, “Collective” is a documentary punctuated by the urgency of a thriller.

Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times:

The COVID-19 pandemic has served as a metaphorical radiograph, exposing socio-economic disparities and weaknesses in emergency response in countries around the world, and “Collective” has focused its penetrating laser beam on the terrible health failures in Romania ”.

“You may recognize some of its symptoms in your own government (no – the one in the US): in systems that put profits above the well-being of patients, in explosions of nationalist rhetoric and in high-risk elections whose results suggest that some voters have a terribly selective relationship with the truth ”.

The Washington Post: “Corporate greed and government complicity”

“A mixture of tribal chauvinism and nationalist pride prevented the transfer of patients to better equipped burn wards in Austria and Germany; the result was a falsification of medical ethics, corporate greed and government complicity, which led to indescribable suffering and unnecessary loss of life.

Nanau made an informative documentary about a story most Americans have never heard of and zoomed in enough to condense the mean and dishonest era of global populism.

Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post:

Financial Times: “Even the oldest journalistic question triumphs”

“The irony does not go unnoticed that the task of confronting the authorities is up to a sports newspaper, Gazeta Sporturilor. The methods of old-school journalism triumph: rummaging through the newspapers, slamming phones. Even the oldest journalistic question triumphs: why are these people lying? ”.

What killed them was their hospitals, the sanctuary of human life.

Danny Leigh, Financial Times:

IndieWire: “Democracy in the fight against itself”

“‘Collective’ begins as one of the greatest journalism films of all time and then continues, exposing democracy in its struggle,” he writes. Eric Kohn in the IndieWire publication.

Daily Mail: “It will ring out in all places where government officials lie”

“There are times when the comment – the typical statements at the launch of a film or another – just isn’t enough (…) With calm tenacity and patience, these people (no – Romanian journalists) have succeeded – and seeing them practice their profession makes your heart soar. There are times when the comment is not enough. “

“It’s a documentary film for our times, which will resonate in all the places where government officials blatantly lie to mask their incompetence. And in all those places where reporters – the ones who ask, dig and are not afraid to raise the telephone – were considered disposable products.

Ian Herbert, Daily Mail: