Chemo

"Some people get ordinary flu; it's just that ours is simply very serious." This is one of the ways in which patients at a Warsaw oncology clinic view their disease. It takes several hours for them to take another dose of chemotherapy. The patients while away the time with conversations about their favourite dishes, wedding dresses and obsessive thoughts about suicide. We see close-ups of the face of an optimistic mother of a five-month-old boy, a congenial greengrocer, a secondary school student and a pregnant woman awaiting a breast amputation. The camera becomes an unobtrusive witness to fascinating dialogues, which are not lacking in humour or irony. All of them, however, reflect on the length of their lives, their fear and their faith with the same openness. Time moves slowly in the hospital, and its passing is measured by liquid disappearing from a drip and by the leaves falling from the trees in the windows. (Moscow International Film Festival)