Nr. 3 (24) anul VII / iulie-septembrie 2009 - ROMDIDAC

film
ILEANA MARIN
Romanian films,
in search of a new identity
S
EX PONTO NR.3, 2009
156
ince December 1989, Romanian society has been obsessed with learning
about the previously inaccessible side of communism and with watching
documentaries about painful testimonies from the past in search of a collective
closure over and over, while four governments constantly avoided condemning
communist crimes and postponed the public access to the Secret Police
archives. At the same time, a group of young filmmakers took the initiative
to reveal them and their unpredicted consequences in the new democratic
context. Recent films, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristi Mungiu), How Did
I Spent The End Of The World (Catalin Mitulescu), California Dreamin' (Cristi
Nemescu), 13:05, East of Bucharest (Cristi Porumboiu), The Oak (Lucian
Pintilie), The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu), deal with the last years
of the communist regime, its end, and its aftermath. Interestingly enough, in
spite of the fact that there are other Romanian productions which might have
deserved closer attention, 1 the films on this list are the ones which received
international acclaim. The Oak won the best actress award at the Geneva Film
festival and at the European Awards in 1992; The Death of Mr. Lazarescu,
received the award for the best film at Cannes in 2005; 13:05, East of Bucharest
won the Golden Camera award at Cannes, Golden Swan at Copenhagen,
and the Special Prize at the Cottbus Film Festival of Young East European
Cinema in 2006; How I Spent the End of the World was officially selected at
10 prestigious film festivals; California Dreamin' won Prix un certain regard at
the Cannes Film Festival in 2007; 4 Months won Palme d’Or at Cannes, the
Fipresci international critics award, and the best film at the annual European
Film Awards in Berlin in 2007.
The most distributed in Western European countries and the USA,
although not box office successes, are Mungiu’s 4 Months and Puiu’s The
Death of Mr. Lazarescu, which present episodes from Romanian everyday
life in a documentary style. The appearance of “raw reality” seems to appeal
to the foreign audience as an exotic element identifying a place at the border
of the so-called “civilized Europe” somewhere around 2000. International
spectatorship, which either has already or has not yet had any Romanian
experience, (re)considers the image of contemporary Romania through these
cinematic filters, which look realistic and credible. The representation of a