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Collective Movie Review

Collective is a 2020 Romanian documentary film directed by Alexander Nanau. It’s a very disturbing, important look into a painful recent period in this country’s history.

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“When the press bows down to the authorities,

the authorities will mistreat the citizens.

This has always happened, worldwide,

and it has happened to us“

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Journalists uncover health care fraud in the wake of a deadly nightclub fire in Bucharest, Romania, in 2015. Though 27 people died from that fire, 37 more people died the following months due to very unsanitary, horrendous medical treatment that they received. The movie is first and foremost about the journalists trying to uncover what happened and to set things right for everybody.

I’d not heard about this event before seeing the movie, which is crazy as it is very important for Romania, but thankfully there is this documentary now that can enlighten people about what’s happening in this country, which is what documentaries do best. And certainly here we get to see the full fallout of this 2015 incident without focusing too much on the said tragedy, but the aftermath of it. That was a clever choice as the fallout is much more interesting and infinitely more important.

It’s truly horrible witnessing all the corruption, lies and manipulations going on in Romania and it’s very relatable to many other countries nowadays that face similar problems in their governments, but still we are all put to our places when seeing the Romanian political landscape during this period, which was simply unprecedentedly atrocious and inhumane.

Collective ends on a dour note, but it’s also very hopeful and quite triumphant in the power of journalism as the journalists at display are daring and righteous. Still, the film’s very downbeat tone is sure to make you feel pain for those who experience this injustice and the powerlessness on display is heartbreaking. The movie showcases just how difficult it is to find justice when the whole system is against you.

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Collective is well paced, very well edited and solidly directed. It is reminiscent of the Romanian classic movies of the 2000s, but it’s a documentary version of those dramas. It’s also very similar to ‘Spotlight’ in its structure. My main issue here is that the film fails to explain to foreign audiences properly everything leading up to the incident and the entire landscape is mostly brushed aside. Thematically speaking, the movie also remained very limited in scope, which was unfortunate as it should have touched more in-depth upon its issues.