Blood

Filming in black-and-white, director Alina Rudnitskaya's cinema vérité lens follows a group of feisty nurses and technicians in a mobile blood-collection squad as they make a circuit in the hinterlands of northwestern Russia. The people receive money when they "donate" plasma—ostensibly to help ensure that they are eating properly and maintaining their health—but many of the individuals here are clearly acting out of desperation for cash, and some are possibly infected. The nurses themselves have seen tainted blood come into the supply too often, and do not look forward to visiting certain towns that are notorious for HIV and hepatitis (but this is not all grim stuff; when the workday is over, the nurses can party and celebrate like any comrade). A political rally in which an orator calls out the government for sucking the blood of the people like leeches briefly offers a metaphorical twist, but overall this is a non-technical, insider glimpse of dedicated, unglamorous healthcare foot-soldiers in a formerly cloistered society. Viewers who are squeamish about needle-sticks will be relieved to hear that the phlebotomy scenes are fairly non-graphic. Offering an offbeat glimpse of life in a socially and economically transitioning Russia, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)