[The city] is full of poor people and old people, lunatics and junkies, and [a hospital] is one of the places where they make the transition—inevitable for those who exist on life's margin—from sociological statistics to medical ones. Some do so in agony, some in shame, many in bewilderment. But perhaps the most remarkable thing about them is how often they manage to clothe these conditions in dignity, in honorable resistance to fate….

That is the theme of the film [Hospital]. The people of Hospital can administer an emetic to a young art student poisoned by a bad mescaline pill…. But they cannot cure his sickness with life…. The people of Hospital are in no position to practice preventive medicine on an entire society.

The chief characteristic of all of Wiseman's films—and the source of their tremendous emotional impact—is his instinctive sympathy for people...