Scarred Hearts

Although Romanian director Radu Jude makes a valiant attempt at wrenching absurdist comedy from what is essentially a story about a tuberculosis patient’s stint in a sanitarium circa 1937, ultimately this is a downer. The tubercular lad in question, Emanuel (Lucian Teodor Rus), is put into a body cast in order to prevent his weak spine from snapping, and viewers are privy to all of the horrible medical procedures he has to endure, not the least of which is the sight of a giant hypodermic needle thrust into Emanuel’s belly to extract pus from a huge abscess. Apart from such visceral unpleasantries, the film plays out visually like some sort of ragged Altman-esque exercise in screwball mayhem, with mostly long and medium extended shots used to emphasize the random claustrophobic chaos that one can easily imagine might ensue in such quarantined close quarters. The damaged patients all trying to tolerate one another’s respective physical and mental maladies (the field hospital scenes in M*A*S*H come to mind) make for some bizarrely chaotic scenes of social interaction. Meanwhile, the medical staff seems to spend much of their time making deadpan jokes and keeping their dealings with the batty patients at a minimum. Often boasting imaginative cinematography, this should be considered a strong optional purchase. (M. Sandlin)