Over the long, dark, lonely months of quarantine, many of us dreamed about the things we missed from pre-pandemic life

and fantasized about when we'd be able to do them again, like seeing loved ones who lived far away,

or eating in a crowded restaurant, or dancing the night away in a sweaty room full of strangers.

Nightclubs around the world have started reopening this summer.

The idea of a nightclub, a place dedicated to uninhibited bacchanali and fun,

becoming a place of death and destruction is horrifying.

But that's exactly what happened to Collective in 2015.

Collective is the name of a Bucharest nightclub that went up in flames on October 30th of that year.

27 people died more or less immediately, another 180 injured. Then, in the weeks to come,

37 more perished in unsanitary hospitals, not from their burns, but from infection. When it

became clear the government was lying, public rage was so intense the government was forced

to step down, replaced by short-term

technocrats who would serve for a year before the next election.

The story of the fire at Collective in the ensuing government's scandal was captured by a

Romanian documentary, also called Collective.

It was nominated for two Oscars this year, for Best International Feature Film and Best Documentary Feature.

The film begins with grief and ends with it.

But it's not grin.

It's gripping, because the investigative reporters shadowed in the film peel away the layers

of government corruption like the proverbial onion until the great moral vacuum at its heart is

exposed. Who does that peeling? The Bucharest-based Sports Gazette. Ultimately, the nation's most trustworthy news source. The film has much to tell

about the struggle for justice and the courage and patience it requires. Alexander Nanao is the

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