Britain is known as an orderly country, with a tradition of excellent public medicine and investment in citizens of all ages. A rich country, whose number of nurses and doctors is at the top of the developed countries. It has an organized system of care for the elderly, which meets the highest standards.
However, it turns out that these data are mainly on paper. When the system encounters a problem, it collapses like a house of cards all at once.
The movie "On her watch" describes a young woman (Judy Comer) , who never managed to hold down a job and felt no meaning in her life, who is admitted to a prestigious nursing home. She flourishes there thanks to the relationship she develops with the owner and a young man suffering from Alzheimer's (Ian Graham), who enters her heart deeply. Here is a realistic and rather gray description of the work of the people who take care of the elderly, hard and Sisyphean work that receives low public compensation and a meager salary even in rich Britain.
Despite unpleasant nursing jobs, such as changing diapers, she managed to flourish and adapt. However, the plans soon change, when the corona epidemic penetrates into the nursing home. Residents become infected quickly and experience very severe symptoms, with no cure or vaccine.
The movie "On her watch" takes a turn and becomes very dark and difficult. It shows the mass abandonment of the caregivers, who simply abandoned the elderly, people suffocate without proper medical help, and there are difficult scenes that you don't see in every movie.
Unlike horror films, where even the most brutal scenes are not particularly scary, due to the distance of the viewer, who knows that they are staged and not realistic, it is different in the film "On Her Watch". Everything that appears in the film really happened, which made it difficult to watch and heartbreaking. The neglect of the authorities, lack of equipment and simply the lawlessness of thousands of people, this happened all over the world and gave an unflattering appearance, that when a system becomes difficult, it simply abandons the weakest.
The movie "On Her Watch" is well acted, very realistic, but the love story in it is mostly kitschy and not particularly interesting. The main thing is really the way in which real social criticism is leveled at the authorities for the treatment of the weak during the Corona virus, which also happened here in Israel and in all countries of the world.
It's a shame that there aren't more brave films like "On Her Watch", which deal with real social criticism. The Thousand Dead deserves real social inquiry and not just superhero blockbusters.
