Sofia’s last ambulance by Ilian Metev

The amount of allegorical pregnancy Bulgarian director Ilian Metev manages to squeeze into the tight space of an ambulance is definitely worth of praise. Delivered from the stern homologation of soviet communism at the kind hands of democracy, Bulgaria is now facing a new, more liberal nightmare: the methodical destruction of public services. On board of this last ambulance – the ambulances serving the Bulgarian capital are actually 13 – we find a desperately hopeful crew of chain-smoking rescuers. Staring at them from a dashboard-mounted camera for 80 intense minutes, the audience makes the acquaintance of doctor Krassimir (‘Krassi’) Yordanov, pensive driver Plamen Slavkov and paramedic Mila Mikhailova. Despite never filming the face of a single patient, the film succeeds in penetrating the daily lives and struggles of this salvation guerrilla army, coping with the incurable with nothing but its disenchanted determination. While keeping his eyes firm on the inner dynamics of co-workers under the pressure of a collapsing system, the director evokes the outside world the lonely ambulance travels across without ever indulging in neither pedantic nor pitiful tones. Though overwhelmed by the absence of a sustainable infrastructure, Sofia’s Last Ambulance and its melancholic passengers stand out for their sardonic obstinacy, unwilling to give in even in front of the irreparable. As if fighting a lost battle that nonetheless is still worth fighting.

By Giovanni Vimercati (Celluloid Liberation Front)