RIDM 2024: Who Cares? (dir. Alexe Poukine) | Review
Who Cares? by Alexe Poukine delves into the human-centered practices emerging in Western Europe’s healthcare, capturing intimate, unjudged scenes that underscore the importance of empathy in medical training and practice.
In Who Cares? (original title: Sauve qui peut), director Alexe Poukine offers a sweeping portrayal of emerging practices in Western Europe aimed at putting humanity back at the heart of the healthcare system. This feature-length documentary had its world premiere at the 2024 Cinéma du Réel, followed by its North American premiere at the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) the same year.
Using a cinéma vérité approach, the director captures various practices presented in a sequence that serves the progression of her reflection and viewpoint. These practices involve a range of scenarios: between medical students and “simulated patients,” often non-professionals, as well as between current healthcare professionals (anesthetists, nurses, doctors, etc.). By highlighting the importance of interpersonal relationships and providing safe spaces for both professionals and “simulated patients” to speak, these practices aim to counteract the hyper-rationalization prevalent in contemporary Western medicine.
In often very intimate scenes, where subjects freely express their emotions, the director films with great respect, without passing judgment. After the role-playing scenarios, students receive feedback from the “simulated patients,” who have the opportunity to explain what they liked or found troubling about the student’s approach to diagnosis and patient communication. By considering the discomfort patients might feel, the director gradually shifts the focus to the discomfort experienced by the medical staff themselves. Subjected to increasingly deteriorating working conditions, they are often the ones most likely to mistreat patients. Within a small, supportive group, these scenarios allow healthcare professionals to finally express themselves about the difficult situations they’ve encountered and to collectively reflect on ways to handle delicate situations.
Who Cares? opens the discussion on the “medical humanities” movement, which initially developed in the United States. By integrating social science disciplines into the training of future doctors, the aim is to enhance their listening skills, make them aware of the importance of the words used by patients and their implicit meanings, and provide them with a range of interpretive methods to assess various situations and make appropriate decisions.
On a related note, we invite you to read our reviews of Annie St-Pierre’s Your Higher Self, which mirrors modern societies through the theme of mental health, and Pier-Luc Latulippe and Martin Fournier’s Simon & Marianne, which prompts reflection on end-of-life care and medical assistance in dying.
The 27th RIDM is taking over Montreal, Canada, from November 20th to December 1st.
