Recently shown in the ACID section of the Cannes International Film Festival, director Nicolas Peduzzi’s documentary On the Edge follows one overworked doctor, Dr. Jamal Abdel Kader, as he moves seemingly without stopping through the rundown halls of the psychiatric wing of his Paris hospital. An early conversation with a nurse shows the misplaced priorities of those who manage the hospital’s funding. In reaction to a new renovation that will only make the outside of the hospital look nice, the nurse admits to tagging the outside walls with graffiti that says “what a nice hospital.” He laughs at how fast they clean the graffiti that’s visible outside compared to a leaky faucet inside the ward that never gets fixed.
While many people would be happy to keep the mentally ill locked away inside, Dr. Abdel Kader strives to find a way to return them to a healthy life. From patient to patient, we see a man who manages to keep his kindness and humanity in spite of a workload that would break most people. The difficult decision to restrain some patients to keep them and the hospital workers safe is not made lightly, although it must be made quickly.
Some patients show their faces in the documentary and reveal details from their lives. Some we only see their robes or just hear their voices. Dr. Abdel Kader speaks with the sisters of a woman who are fed with the effects her addiction has had on their lives. He sympathizes with the sisters but also explains to them the way an addiction can grow from childhood. With one man from Tunisia he speaks he tries out his non perfect Arabic, maybe in an attempt to put the man at ease. Later we will learn about how he was raised by immigrant doctor parents in a building filled with other medical personnel.
We’ll meet Wendy, a young man who has survived on only coca-cola for nutrition since the loss of his mother. We’ll meet a woman from the Netherlands who’s terrified to return to her country because of her mother. There’s a man who’s been broken down by his job as a social worker who needs a window near his bed blocked off so he won’t be tempted to jump. In happier moments, they all come together to act out scenes from Moliere.
You could accuse the film of voyeurism, shoving a camera into the face of people at their lowest moments. But the doctor’s genuine care for his patients comes through strongly at all times, and the camera usually shows the patient’s humanity and struggles, not keeping them out of sight and out of mind.
The camera captures Dr. Abdel Kader’s movement well, moving from patient’s room to patient’s room and showing him taking the stairs between floors. The doctor’s steady pace is accompanied by a score of remixed classical music with a beat added. The music highlights the neverending life and death struggle, and the urgency of a man who only has so much time in the day.
Series of black and white still photographs interrupt the constant movement, giving us a moment to breathe and take in what we are seeing. The doctor’s only moment of sunlight and fresh air comes when he escapes to a hospital rooftop to discuss a patient with one of his interns.
The patient’s stories are hopeful and desperate. They’re sometimes happy and then very sad. Dr. Abdel Kader himself says he had no interest in taking up psychiatry until doing a round as an intern in the department. His compassion and energy are admirable despite the lack of funding. Hopefully this documentary can create compassion in more of us and especially in those who decide where to allocate funds.
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