A long crusade against healthcare woes

Colectiv, a Romanian documentary film nominated for two Oscars, watches in terror as the Romanian healthcare system practically collapses before the camera. The film elicits a series of gasps, as one shocking revelation leads to another, and another: procurement frauds, bureaucratic incompetence, corruption, nepotism, murder, mass bribery, healthcare mafia, maggots crawling on the head of a patient — a living patient — and finally, an election whose preposterous results ring too many familiar bells.

Directed by Alexander Nanau, Colectiv (or Collective) is in the race for the Oscars’ Best Documentary and Best International Feature (it’s worth noting that in the second category, Romania has chosen as its representative a film that shines a spotlight on the country’s…