A Swiss film depicting a nurse pushed to her limits during a single night shift is sparking debate across Europe about underfunded healthcare. Directed by Petra Volpe, 'Late Shift' (German title 'Heldin') follows Floria, a young nurse whose workload spirals after a colleague calls in sick, driving up the risk of a fatal error. The film has outperformed even the latest Bridget Jones movie in Swiss cinemas and prompted policy discussions in Germany.
Volpe told the BBC she was inspired by a former roommate who worked as a nurse and by the book 'Our Profession Is Not the Problem – It’s the Circumstances' by German care worker Madeline Calvelage. 'My heart was pounding from the first chapter,' Volpe said. 'But within that stress you find the most tender, human moments.' The director chose the title 'Heldin' (Heroine) to apply a mythic term to the bravery and self-sacrifice of care work, which she says is devalued because 80% of workers are female.
German actor Leonie Benesch, known for roles in 'The Crown' and 'Babylon Berlin', trained with real nurses at a Swiss hospital to master the 'choreography' of medical tasks. 'Before this it wasn’t clear to me how much of the actual medical responsibility rests on nurses’ shoulders,' she said. Benesch spent several shifts shadowing staff to ensure authenticity, adding 'I just hope people aren’t scared off by a film with subtitles because the story is absolutely universal.'
The world could face a shortage of 13 million nurses by the end of this decade, according to the World Health Organization. At the film’s premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, nurses were invited on the red carpet in uniform, some holding signs reading #wirsindfloria (We Are Floria). Ingo Böing of the German Association of Nursing Professionals called the film 'incredibly moving' and praised its depiction of the 'vicious circle' of nursing, where overworked staff inevitably call in sick, worsening conditions for those who remain.
