Collective

Movie: Collective
Nominated for: Documentary Feature Film
How I watched: YouTube
When I fell asleep: I didn't
When it had me: Early on
When it lost me: It did not
What I have to say:

This documentary began awkwardly with silence and a lot of backstory delivered on title cards. This probably would have made more sense if I'd seen it in a theatre. In my room, mid-day, on a computer screen, it was harder to understand if the movie was properly beginning or not. This was a very slight bump in the start of an otherwise gripping documentary.

Collective was the name of a night club that burned down in Romania. In the aftermath of that disaster, a journalist and a newly appointed government official discover how broken, derelict and deplorably corrupt the Romanian healthcare system has become.

Shocking, horrifying problems, you guys. Really! Bad! 

This is one of those documentaries where I end up witnessing something I never imagined would one day be in my brain.

The investigative process is well tracked by the film makers and it is really exciting to follow along in the twists and turns as they uncover more and more egregious corruption. You know how in a documentary, if the film makers uncover one big surprise that they weren't expecting, it can really make it an impactful and satisfying film? Well that happens about five times in this doc.

Not all the questions that are raised get answered and you are left feeling that as shocking as the movie has been, only the tip of the iceberg has been exposed. I appreciated the humanity displayed by the journalists and the new Minister of Health in the film. I needed to be anchored in their very human responses as I made my way through this horror show.

This was a very powerful example of what documentary film can be.