Krzysztof Kieslowski's short television documentary about 24 hours in a hospital operating center is horrifying in its lack of humanity. At times it seems the doctors are more interesting in the bad food and what happened to the last cup of coffee than in their patients. They run out of sterile cotton wool, they break hammers, they tell patients they're being sissies when they complain of pain. It is not until the last couple of minutes that a patient's name is mentioned, and their exhaustion and frustration becomes evident. Still, they soldier on, operating on patient after patient, like each is a busted automobile they've got to get running again.
