![]() In 2021, judiciary trials are ongoing but no one has yet been convicted. Yet although the minister declares in the movie that his job is to “ask questions”, he seems to slightly fail at giving answers by the end of it. The insider’s perspective into Voiculescu’s work generated local criticism of the film, with some accusing the documentary of being too politically biased in his favour. The camera follows the two teams as they try to find out what truly happened in the hospitals. The film gives viewers unprecedented access into the press room of the tenacious investigative journalists, and the country’s more chaotic Ministry of Health. In 2015-16, the two were not quite part of the establishment: one a sports magazine editor, and the other a political newcomer with a former career in finance and healthcare activism. The findings led to mass protests and a change of government - an example of the progress Romanian civil society made in recent decades, with investigative journalism, and civic activism able to keep governments accountable.įilmed five years ago, the documentary focuses on two protagonists trying to find out the truth about the country’s healthcare system: investigative journalist Catalin Tolontan, and Romania’s new minister of health, Vlad Voiculescu. The scheme was traced back to pharmaceutical company Hexi Pharma, who had managed to get a state commission providing all Romanian hospitals with the fake disinfectant. But investigative journalists from newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor discovered that the 37 deaths following the fire had been caused by the mass use of ineffective disinfectant that had been diluted with water. After the tragic fire, the government reassured an increasingly angry public that hospitals were able to contain the crisis. Suspenseful and intense, the documentary tells a compelling story. Shortlisted for the Oscars in two categories, nominated as the Best Foreign Film by the Critics’ Awards, featuring on Barack Obama’s list of favourite films of 2020, and widely covered by international media, the film has touched international audiences for its insights into the power of governments over our lives (and deaths), and the ongoing processes of keeping politicians and businesses accountable. Launched five years after the tragedy, Alexandru Nanau’s film Collective deals with the aftermath of the fire. The nightclub had had no fire exits, but inspectors had been paid to turn a blind eye. ![]() The tragedy made it clear to millions of Romanians that the country’s wide scale corruption was not an abstract issue, but a danger to human life. A further 37 died in the weeks that followed another 180 people were injured. On 30 October 2015, 27 young people were killed during a fire at the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest.
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