Blood

This vivid black-and-white film captures the daily goings-on at a Russian blood bank. Each day, a small, closely-knit team packs a van full of the supplies they will need to do their job in the most remote corners of the countryside. In most Western countries, donating blood is an ethical deed that people do without financial compensation, but in , a few touching scenes are enough to render the economic necessity palpable. Wherever the blood bank should end up, the line of donors is always long. The cashier who doles out the 850 rubles ($26) for each donation stresses that the money isn't payment but a means to live healthily, but for many this is an important source of income – sometimes the only source. The nurses work away, poking needles into veins and managing the many liters of blood. Meanwhile, they converse with the donors, distract them a bit from the scary needles, and when one faints, raise his legs to get the blood flowing back to his head. This all takes place in a friendly, familiar atmosphere, which isn't astonishing, for the team operates like a traveling circus and shares much love and anguish, not to mention meals washed down with copious amounts of alcohol.