Urgences, les nuits des villes

The Samu (mobile medical emergency service) team start their race into the night. As soon as their van starts up, each enters his allotted role. The navigator, driver and doctor are concentrated on their mission: getting to the emergency as fast as possible, then using all their skill to provide aid and maintain the breath of life. They rarely speak and their gestures are precisely co-ordinated, following a procedure known by heart. Yet, each new situation is a trying one. In the midst of these health carers, a young man in a coma, an old lady who has fallen, a woman giving birth in her flat full of firemen, someone else whose cardiac massage seems endless before it finally succeeds. On the return journey, the much-relieved team relax with a song.