Arrhythmia, written and directed by Boris Khlebnikov - Eight out of 10

Arrhythmia, written and directed by Boris Khlebnikov

Eight out of 10

Arrhythmia is an excellent, great motion picture.

Although not as glorious as Leviathan, which is a landmark, a film that would remain in history, one of the best of the decade, if not the whole beginning of this century, it is still fabulous.

As opposed to the masterpiece Leviathan, it has less for the Russian censors to attack, but it is still interesting to see the malfunction of a major part of the system exposed, although it would be attributed to human error

Leviafan has exposed the completely rotten system, from the vile role of the church, which is patronizing and blessing devilish endeavors, to the politicians who abuse power and crush the modest man that stands for his property, to the place, who are there to defend the oligarchs and the apparatchiks and help put people in prison.

In another Russian film seen and noted on recently here - http://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/ - the police attitude is exposed in a brilliant scene, where two cops try to hustle a woman that has come to the local prison to visit her husband – jailed for no reason – who is denied access and any information and decides to protest in front of the prison.

She is told she needs to take the next train out or else, the consequences would be more severe – most likely, she would be arrested – and while this vicious, corrupt official lectures her, some thugs beat a man until he falls to the ground and they still kick him and we can see that as it happens in front of the car where two cops deal with a peaceful protester.

The Police Professor walks pout to the attackers and we think well, at least now there would be some justice, but he looks negligently to the victim lying down, probably in a pool of blood and discusses very friendly with the attackers that we now know to be part of the entourage, in cahoots with the law and therefore above it.

Arrhythmia deals with other problems, those of the medical system mostly; the heroes both work in it, Oleg as paramedic and Katya, his wife, in the hospital emergency department.

The first few scenes are also funny, in that Oleg has to attend a case with his team – there are three working on an ambulance, the medic, his assistant and the driver –where an older woman is waiting.

She is known to call the emergency services on a permanent, if futile basis, whenever she feels like going to the hospital, for which she now has her luggage packed, aware of the drill.

This is however a waste of time. Resources and other much more seriously ill patients are waiting for help, while this figure is keeping trained medical workers attending to her hypochondria.

The hero envisages a way out of this familiar trap – taking a pretend victim to the hospital, wasting time with bureaucracy, traffic – and says he would take her, if she signs the new set of rules…

All patients need to have their hair shaved, to avoid infections, bacteria or something like that…

They can return to their duties, after the woman refuses to accept the loss of her hair, but she would register a complaint, as others do, including a Jehovah’s Witness who states that they did not take their shoes off…

The other reproaches are much more important, for the mother of this fundamentalist had a condition that required an immediate transfusion or else she would die within the next couple of hours.

We can think of The Children Act, a fabulous book by Ian McEwan – that has been adapted for the big screen – where a similar case is presented, with a teenager who is not of age, but who needs blood to survive.

Oleg takes charge and explains to the victim that she would die without the necessary intervention, he needs to take her to the hospital and the woman agrees, while her daughter opposes the move.

She is pushed and threatened by the paramedic, but this is all justified when the saving of a life is at stake, as is the case for some thugs who are handcuffed and transported to the emergency room.

Many other problems are presented, including the role of the bureaucracy, a new boss who wants patients to survive the intervention of his team, but they may die when others are in charge, he does not care.

A major role in the drama is played by the tension in the family, where Katya wants to stay away from her husband for a god while, even when they still share the same flat, where he has to sleep on the floor, in the kitchen.

This motion picture is wonderful although it will not resist the test of time in the same manner as the film that s better than most others made in the past 10, or twenty years…

Leviafan