It’ll blow you away: Collective reviewed

When I recommend this documentary to people, telling them it follows the journalistic investigation into a fire that broke out in a Bucharest nightclub, killing 64, with the majority not dying of their injuries but later in hospital, their look says: ‘Not a chance.’ Their look says: ‘This film is not something I wish to see.’ I felt similarly, but trust me on this. It’s gripping. It’s electrifying. It’s explosive. It plays like a crime thriller yet with real consequences. There are revelations that will make you gasp. And it opens a can of worms. Literally.

The fire broke out at Club Colectiv in 2015 when a band’s pyrotechnics ignited the building’s soundproofing foam. The opening seconds show mobile phone footage of the flames taking hold, and it’s horrifying, but doable. By that I mean it’s not graphic, and while later there are some graphic scenes, they are never gratuitous. The club had only one exit and only one fire extinguisher, but that’s not what this is about. This is about the 38 victims who later died in hospital despite the fact that, in some instances, their burns were relatively minor. It still doesn’t sound up your street, I know. But wait. Just wait.

It’s the way this is told, as much as anything, and the way we are plunged headfirst into events as they shockingly unfold. It’s terrific storytelling, as directed by Alexander Nanau, who does not rely on talking heads or experts or interviews. Instead, it is rigorously observational — he filmed over 14 months, edited for 18 months — as we follow survivors and the bereaved and an investigation led by Catalin Tolontan, the editor of a Romanian daily sports newspaper.