Late Shift Film Exposes Nursing Crisis

‘Late Shift’ Film Holds a Mirror to Europe’s Nursing Crisis

A startling new film from Europe depicts the intense pressures on nurses. The movie is creating significant discussion across the continent. The director of the Swiss film, which follows a nurse stretched to her breaking point during a single night, explains the gripping real-life accounts that fueled her work. Her feature paints a stark picture of dangerously under-resourced healthcare systems. This cinematic portrayal of a single, harrowing shift resonates with the real-life experiences of nurses across Europe. A critical shortage of staff and chronic underfunding threaten the stability of national health services. The film serves as a powerful testament to the daily struggles of healthcare professionals.

The world may confront a deficit of 13 million nursing professionals by the end of the current decade. Petra Volpe, a Swiss director, created her latest movie to explore what might happen if just one nurse missed a single demanding hospital shift. She found the result was a compelling disaster narrative. With Late Shift, the director sought to reveal the realities on the front lines of an approaching healthcare crisis. The story unfolds from the perspective of the devoted but worn-out Floria. Leonie Benesch, a German actor, portrays the youthful caregiver who at first navigates her duties with a skilled precision. The film has been lauded for its raw and realistic depiction of the immense strain placed on healthcare workers.

The initial part of Floria's workday feels like an especially frantic instalment of the culinary drama The Bear, but with far more critical outcomes. Floria starts her shift full of positive energy, even inquiring about a colleague's vacation. Soon, she learns another nurse is absent due to illness. This development causes her workload to swell, amplifying the pressure and increasing the chances of a critical error. The film’s narrative captures the escalating tension and the emotional toll that understaffing takes on even the most dedicated nurses. The story highlights the systemic issues that contribute to a high-pressure, high-stakes work environment where mistakes become almost inevitable.

A Title Laden with Meaning

The director, who was born in Switzerland, explains that she picked the film’s title in German, Heldin, which translates to Heroine. Her goal was to apply a legendary label, typically given to fighters, to the courage and personal sacrifice inherent in caregiving. Volpe notes that this kind of work, despite being incredibly complex and rich with emotion, is systematically undervalued in our societies. She finds this situation revealing, as women constitute eight out of ten individuals in the workforce in this sector in many nations. The choice of title is a deliberate act to reframe the perception of nursing, elevating the profession to the heroic status it deserves in the public consciousness.

Volpe drew inspiration from a former roommate who was a nurse. She also adapted material from the autobiographical book titled Our Profession Is Not the Problem – It's the Circumstances. It was written by Madeline Calvelage, a former care professional from Germany who also served as a consultant on the film's script. The book’s opening chapter made the director’s heart race, reading like a suspense story. She observed that amidst such intense pressure, one can uncover the most delicate and human experiences. The film’s authenticity is rooted in these real-life accounts, which provide a foundation of lived experience that resonates with audiences and healthcare professionals alike.

Image Credit - Sydney Film Festival

The movie’s plot centers on the mounting and conflicting demands from patients in one hospital ward. A distinct combination of healthcare and personal needs waits behind every door, announced to personnel by a piercing call signal. Benesch has had a fast-moving career, with parts in shows like Babylon Berlin and The Crown. She has also had movie roles in The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke, the Munich Olympics attack story September 5, and The Teachers' Lounge, a German Oscar-nominated film. She observes that a unifying element in her recent roles is portraying characters with a deep passion for their work. This commitment is palpable in her portrayal of Floria.

The Unseen Labour of Nurses

Benesch also mentioned the rarity of seeing caregivers and their daily achievements positioned as the main focus in television medical shows. It is common to see doctors portrayed as heroes while a nurse in the background might be seen hanging an IV bag, sipping coffee, or being involved with a senior physician. Before working on this project, she was not aware of the immense medical responsibilities that nurses carry. Late Shift deliberately shifts the focus, placing the nurse at the center of the narrative and exposing the full scope of their professional duties and emotional labour. The film challenges the conventional media portrayal of nurses.

To prepare for the role, Benesch, who trained at London's Guildhall School of Music & Drama, shadowed actual nurses for several shifts in a Swiss medical center. Her aim was to internalize the intricate interactions between personnel and patients. She also wanted to learn the practical abilities required for tasks like preparing an injection or measuring blood pressure. She wanted to perform with such authenticity that real nurses could not distinguish her from an actual professional. She expressed her hope that viewers would not be deterred by a subtitled film, because the narrative is truly universal. This dedication to realism is a key factor in the film's power.

The film Late Shift has ignited passionate debates about policy reform and has been a triumph with both critics and audiences. It found success across German-speaking nations in Europe, even outperforming the newest Bridget Jones film at the box office in Switzerland. For the movie's global debut during the Berlin film festival held in February, a number of nurses received invitations to appear on the red carpet in their work attire. After the film, they took to the stage to receive a standing ovation. In the days leading up to Germany's national election, some attendees carried signs with the message #wirsindfloria, which means We Are Floria. The movie has become a rallying point for the nursing community.

 Image Credit - Sydney Film Festival

The Reality of the Nursing Crisis

One of the invited guests was 47-year-old Ingo Böing. Having spent twenty-five years in hospital settings, he now works for the professional nursing association in Germany, an organization that advocates for improved working conditions for caregivers. He described the gala for the film as an incredibly poignant experience. While viewing certain scenes, he recalled thinking how accurately they reflected the reality of the job. Böing believes Late Shift effectively illustrates the destructive cycle within nursing. Professionals strained to their absolute capacity eventually call out sick, which then places an even heavier burden on their colleagues who report for duty.

He added that the film captures the feeling of attempting to address countless needs simultaneously and failing to do so. He suggested that patient waiting lists, similar to those in Britain's NHS, could assist German hospitals in managing priorities better. This would prevent medical teams from being stretched too thin. Franziska Aurich, a 28-year-old who is employed in the oncology unit at Berlin's Charité hospital, also felt the movie was "very close to reality." When asked for her advice to the character Floria, Aurich stated she would tell her to return to work the next day. Like the character, she cannot see herself doing any other job.

However, she would also strongly advise Floria to become part of a union to avoid having so many shifts of that intensity. Volpe, who divides her time between New York and Berlin, expressed her satisfaction at seeing groups of nurses attending the film together. She hopes it encourages the wider public to be more considerate patients. She believes nurses should occupy the highest tier of our social structure, but we exist in a society where the opposite is true. She described the film as an homage to the nursing field. The film’s impact extends beyond the cinema, sparking important conversations about the value of nursing.

A Global Healthcare Crisis

While the story is set within Europe’s strained but still operational social safety nets, Volpe mentioned observing the situation in the United States. There, she saw how drastic reductions in Medicaid funding under Donald Trump, a program primarily for low-income and disabled individuals, posed a threat to the most defenseless people. She remarked on the great cruelty visible in all those policies. She recalled that Elon Musk once identified that empathy was the most significant issue of our era, a view she finds utterly monstrous. She feels the minimum an artist can do is to challenge that way of thinking. After all, at some point, everyone will find themselves reliant on the person standing at their bedside.

The film's resonance is amplified by the stark reality of the nursing shortage across Europe. The EU currently has around 4 million nurses, but there is a pressing need for at least a million more. This shortage is not evenly distributed, with some countries feeling the strain more acutely than others. For example, in 2020, Finland had 13.6 nurses per 1,000 inhabitants, while Greece had only 3.4. This disparity highlights the systemic nature of the problem. It is driven by a combination of factors including an ageing population, longer life expectancies, and insufficient investment in the healthcare workforce. The shortage is a ticking time bomb for healthcare systems.

The problem is compounded by an ageing workforce. Over a third of doctors and a quarter of nurses in the EU are over the age of 55. This means a significant portion of the workforce is approaching retirement. This demographic shift, coupled with difficult working conditions, contributes to high rates of burnout and challenges in retaining staff. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these issues, pushing many healthcare professionals to their limits and beyond. The result is a healthcare system under immense pressure. Staff shortages impact the quality and accessibility of care for patients across the continent. This creates a vicious cycle of burnout and attrition.

The Consequences of Underfunding

Underfunding is a key driver of the nursing crisis. Many European countries do not invest enough in their healthcare systems to attract and retain staff. Low salaries, poor working conditions, and limited opportunities for professional development are common complaints among nurses. In Italy, for example, underpaid and burnt-out nurses have often chosen to emigrate to neighbouring Switzerland for better pay and conditions. Italy is facing a shortfall of at least 70,000 nurses, with around 100,000 more expected to retire in the next four years. This brain drain of skilled professionals further depletes the healthcare workforce in countries that can least afford it.

The effects of underfunding are far-reaching. Staffing shortages are one of the most visible signs, leading to increased workloads and burnout for the remaining staff. This can result in treatment delays, with patients waiting longer for essential care. In England, for instance, approximately one in eight people are on waiting lists for elective treatment. The underfunding of training and education grants also makes it more difficult to attract new talent to the profession, perpetuating the cycle of staff shortages. The lack of investment in healthcare has a direct impact on patient safety and quality of care. The system is at a breaking point.

The impact of underfunding is not limited to staffing. It also affects the physical infrastructure of healthcare facilities. A lack of investment can lead to outdated equipment and inadequate facilities, further hampering the ability of healthcare professionals to provide high-quality care. The "firefighting" mindset that often accompanies underfunding means that resources are constantly directed towards immediate and urgent problems. There is little room for long-term strategic investment. This short-termism prevents healthcare systems from addressing the root causes of their problems and building a more resilient and sustainable future. This is a critical issue for the future.

The Human Cost of a Broken System

The human cost of Europe's nursing crisis is immense. For patients, it can mean longer waiting times, reduced access to care, and a lower standard of treatment. For nurses, it means burnout, stress, and a devalued profession. The film Late Shift captures this human cost with powerful and unflinching honesty. It is a story not just about a single nurse on a single shift, but about a systemic crisis that affects us all. The film's narrative is a powerful call to action. It urges policymakers and the public to recognize the value of nursing and invest in the future of healthcare.

Image Credit - Variety

The film's acclaim in European nations where German is spoken demonstrates a public appetite for stories that grapple with real-world issues. Its ability to outperform a major Hollywood blockbuster suggests that audiences are eager for authentic and thought-provoking cinema. The film's debut at the film festival in Berlin, where nurses were celebrated on the red-carpet event, was a powerful statement about the importance of their work. The #wirsindfloria campaign highlights the film's role as a catalyst for social and political change. The film has become a cultural phenomenon with a real-world impact.

Late Shift is more than just a film. It is a reflection of Europe's healthcare systems, revealing a reality that is often hidden from public view. The movie serves as an homage to the nursing profession, a celebration of the dedication and compassion of those who care for us in our most vulnerable moments. It is also a warning about the results of undervaluing and underfunding this essential work. The film's message is clear: we must act now to address the nursing crisis, before it's too late. The future of our health depends on it. This movie is a vital contribution to a crucial debate.