The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

Director Cristi Puiu, a self-proclaimed hypochondriac who long struggled with depression, created an award-winning indictment of the Romanian hospital system. The elderly alcoholic Dante Remus Lazarescu is sent from pillar to post by doctors all night long, while his condition visibly deteriorates. With black humour and in 'real time', Puiu depicts Lazarescu's long, nocturnal ambulance trip. The tragicomic journey leads past overcrowded hospitals and ice-cold doctors who want nothing to do with a delirious old man who smells of urine and vomit ('Drive him around until he falls into a coma, and then come back'). Unlike his namesake Lazarus, Lazarescu does not wake up again. Awarded the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival and the BBC Four World Cinema Award.