On Call

“I was told about peoples and humanity. But I saw neither people, nor humanity. I saw many people, all very different. Separated from each other by a void.” – thus the introductory quotation from Fernando Pessoa, foreshadowing the weight of a documentary story that unfolds at Avicenne Hospital in one of Paris’s northern suburbs. A rundown doctor’s surgery becomes the end of the line for the personal dramas of immigrants from around the world, but ultimately transforms into a safe haven that prevents their lives from sinking to the depths. The French director follows events in the spirit of documentarist Raymond Depardon; the emotional intensity of the moment comes in static shots of a working internist who is forced to provide psychological counseling to those without a roof over their head, no insurance, and often no hope. This exquisitely measured, softly engaging film represents the views of those sympathetic towards the plight of immigrants. At the same time it criticizes a society that only shares prosperity, leaving hardship as our own personal problem.