Status: 24.03.2021 6:00 a.m.
The documentary “Collective – Corruption kills” tells of the consequences of the fire in the Bucharest club “Colectiv” in 2015. The film has been nominated for two Oscars – and can be seen in the ARD media library until mid-April.
“Collective – Corruption Kills” was nominated in two categories for the Oscars 2021 – as “Best International Film” and at the same time as “Best Documentary”. The film is in the middle of April ARD media library. He tells of the consequences of the fire in the Bucharest Club Colectiv in 2015 in Romania. It wasn’t just people who died: the accident also revealed a complex system of corruption in the health system after journalistic revelations.
Film shows the scandal after the accident
27 people died on October 30, 2015 in the Bucharest music club “Colectiv”. However, the subject of the documentary is the 37 dead who subsequently died in Romanian hospitals. Right at the beginning, the journalist Cătălin Tolontan from the Gazeta Sporturilor newspaper met a whistleblower: “Yes, well, they all died of germ infections. They practically kept it a secret.” The journalists made the scandal public, and soon it was about the failure of the health system and tenfold diluted and therefore life-threatening disinfectants in hospitals. Filmmaker Alexander Nanau follows the research of his protagonists. This creates the image of an intertwined labyrinth of political interests, fraud and corruption.
Alexander Nanau follows the journalists in their research
Investigative journalist Catalin Tolotan is on the phone on his cell phone.
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Feature film thrillers like “Die Unbrechlichen”, “Spotlight” or “Die Verlegerin” show the investigative journalistic craft in a fictional dramaturgy in which we take part in almost every editorial meeting. But amazingly, this same impression of closeness is also created with “Kollektiv”. When the documentary shows Cătălin Tolontan at work, one always has the impression that there is no camera present.
Alexander Nanau’s film has a breathtaking density that does not diminish when it shows the survivor Mariana Oprea who, with her burn scars, can be photographed naked for an exhibition. The change to the third perspective doesn’t let the film fall apart either. It’s about Vlad Voiculescu, who, after the government abdicates because of the hospital scandal, becomes health minister, wants to change the corrupt system and lets the film team attend the meetings of the ministry. To see: the fight of a young, committed politician against windmills.
“Collective – Corruption Kills”: Great film against an inhuman system
In the end, the new health minister is voted out and his anti-corruption campaign fizzles out. We can only hope that the subtitle of the documentary “Corruption kills” doesn’t get another meaning. One of the last scenes shows the journalists of the Gazeta-Sporturilor at an editorial conference: “Someone from the secret service told us to take more care of our families. – What does he say? What did we do? – We stabbed a nest of unscrupulous mafiosi . “
Drama, tension, a stirring subject, that’s one thing in this documentary. “Collective” is also fascinating because this big film with the journalists, the young politician and the fire victims shows people in their stirring struggle against an inhuman system.
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Collective – corruption kills
- Genre:
- documentary
- Country of production:
- Romania, Luxembourg
- Director:
- Alexander Nanau
- Long:
- 109 minutes
- Theatrical release:
- available in the ARD media library
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This topic in the program:
NDR culture | Classic in the day | 03/24/2021 | 06:40 am
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