DVD Review: The Shift

The Shift depicts one intense night at an emergency room, where nurse Kayle (Leo Oliva, who also wrote the screenplay) is assigned to train a new nurse named Amanda (Casey Fitzgerald), who holds different views on the responsibilities and obligations of their profession, specifically regarding the question of a patient’s right to die.

This is a film that quickly and quietly gets its hooks into you. Early on there is a shot of a man in a hospital bed, with two people at his side. After a moment, one of them removes the man’s breathing mask. And from there, we see several other patients. These shots are all handled in a quiet, realistic manner, without introductions or exposition, and without intrusions from the score, giving the film an intense and immediate feel. Also, these scenes give us the impression that the focus is as much on the patients as it is on the nursing staff, which is interesting because the two main characters are nurses. But it is that their own focus is on the patients, and so these early brief scenes help align us with those main characters. It is such a great way of making us share their perspectives.

Floyd (Danny Glover) gives the team their assignments for the shift, and Kayle is told he’s to train a new nurse, Amanda. He is reluctant, saying that he should be at the patients’ bedsides where he can do the most good, but of course accepts his assignment. It is a tough night for Kayle, as demons from his past haunt him, and the drugs he uses to get through seem to be giving him anxiety.

There are so many excellent scenes. In one scene early in the night, the nurses work brilliantly and quickly to save a patient, only to learn that the patient’s chart indicates “Do not resuscitate.” So Kayle makes a decision on his own.

Meanwhile a young cancer patient named Emily (Genesis Ochoa) connects with Kayle. This relationship illustrates the dynamic between the needed human touch to medicine and the obligations of the nursing profession. Amanda, eager to learn, asks Emily’s mother several questions about Emily. Kayle pulls her aside and tells her: “Put the notebook away. Listen to me. You need to start treating that girl like a human being and not a homework assignment. Okay? Everything you asked her mom can be found in the chart. All you’re doing is unsettling her with every single question you have.” Emily soon makes an unusual request of Kayle.

Both Leo Oliva and Casey Fitzgerald give very strong performances, and are completely believable. Amanda is intelligent, but doesn’t have the experience to know when to be quiet. Casey Fitzgerald’s performance is so moving. You really feel for her, and because most of us have little or no medical experience, we experience much of this film through her eyes. There is a fantastic moment where she rushes into the med room to retrieve some urgently needed items, and in her frantic mood bangs the door against another nurse, making a third nurse laugh. It’s so brutally honest, and even warm as the third nurse tells her “Just relax” and then helps her get the items. The handheld camera also helps convey her mood and her insecurity. And I love the moments of comradery among the staff.

The Shift is absolutely riveting. I was seriously impressed by this film, and completely drawn in. Not a single moment feels untrue. And though this film is about the right to die, the issue is not addressed in a heavy-handed manner.

The Shift was directed by Lee Cipolla, and was released on DVD on February 24, 2015 through Random Media. The DVD contains no special features.