The Emergence of the Romanian Cinema

58 Alexandru ISTUDOR Alexandru ISTUDOR 20 YEARS SINCE THE REVOLUTION: THE EMERGENCE OF THE ROMANIAN CINEMA Abstract. The Romanian cinema after commu- Notes from the audience and backstage nism has conquered the west, but not the east. 2009 has been a unique moment With this statement the author is following a film analysis designed to address some of the among public debates, marking the pass most important cinematographic productions of 20 years since the fall of the Romanian in contemporary Romania. Interpreting the communist regime, which has led to a narratives in the movies of Caranfil, Mungiu, general contemplation of everyday reali- Porumboiu, Puiu, Munteanu, Mitulescu and ties. Obviously, the most discussed have Nemescu, Alexandru Istudor draws connec- been the social, economic and politic tions between these cinematographers, while spheres (Silviu Brucan’s affirmation on putting them into the context of the regional how it will take 20 years for Romania and international film productions. Using to become a democracy seems full of the comparative method in film analysis, this paper provides a deep depiction of the meaning today and, according to some social mechanisms influencing the Romanian analysts, the author was too optimistic cinematographers. when stating this). From this point of view, the cultural sphere remains secluded in a peripheral corner, as it is being consider either meaningless in these debates or inadequate to be broached in the present context. What I am trying to accomplish in this paper is the analysis of a niche of this cultural sphere, namely the Romanian cinema in the 20 years of transition, focusing EKPHRASIS, 1/2009 on the new wave of Romanian directors. Integrating Methodologies One thing is certain: the Romanian in Visual Culture Research pp. 58-66 20 Years since the Revolution: the Emergence of the Romanian Cinema 59 cinema emerges in a space characterized related to Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon. by paradoxical cleavages. Despite the The difference is that in Caranfil’s film unfavorable local context (with everything its divisions are enlightening through it implies: the lack of financial resources the internal construction, whereas the or their poor management, the fact that Japanese director tries to create a feeling theatre school and film school are often of “uncertainty and insecurity” (Currie, being mistaken and the promotion of 1995) regarding the truth that the audi- stars that lack artistic skills, but, instead, ence awaits. they are renowned by the public), the From his first cinema-related expe- Romanian cinema has managed to win rience and until Filantropica, the motion more awards at prestigious film festivals picture that can be seen as the result of that it did throughout its entire history. the director’s maturity, Caranfil has In other words, we have conquered the approached several themes, refusing to be west, but not the east. stuck in a limited source of inspiration: the street, modernity and the effects of A New Hope: Nae Caranfil communism. All of these ingredients have Released in 1993, E pericoloso sporgersi placed Caranfil’s films in the category of is Nae Caranfil’s first feature film, made films that focus mainly on reality, on in co-production with France, the reasons social and political facts, replacing the being well understood in the light of the exceptional with the meaningless aspects 1990s cinema possibilities. What kind of of life in Romania. impact does it have on today’s audience? Seeing Filantropica has “forced” me to We can say that the film has several flaws: analyze it in a comparative manner, using the inability to be clearly framed into a an Argentinean film as reference, Nueve register, whether tragic, comic or playful, Reinas directed by Fabian Bielinsky, one the faulty performance of the actors and of the few films that provoked varying the infantile atmosphere of certain scenes. degrees of controversy at New Directors/ Still, there is a technical detail that draws New Films Festival in New York, 2001 attention and that makes up the paroxysm (Chin, Qualls, 2002). Nueve Reinas is the of the film: the multiple perspectives on story of two swindlers, Juan and Marcos which the storyline is built upon. The who try to make a living in a fraudulent, narration is presented three times, in yet comic way. Their tricks are played three different chapters – the student, in restaurants, gas stations, on the street the actors, the soldiers – creating a with a certain theatricality that the sense of otherness and providing the audience will understand only in the end. opportunity of seeing the same event In Filantropica, Buenos Aires becomes through three perspectives. From this a much more divided and opportunistic point of view, Caranfil’s film astounds Bucharest. The act of begging, seen as the through its technical means, thus being sad story that the reaching hand tells, is 60 Alexandru ISTUDOR Filantropica paroxysm emerges from the way in which Caranfil applies Viktor Shklovsky’s concept of de-familiarization on the subject, the beggar’s world, which he presents as a parody, a fantasy rather than a pathetic drama. The New Romanian Wave: Mungiu, Porumboiu, Puiu, Munteanu, Mitulescu, Nemescu 2006 – year of the Revolution: The Paper Will Be Blue, 12:08 East of Bucha- rest, How I Spent the End of the World Inexplicably, 2006 was the year of revolution in the Romanian cinema, since no less than three greatly appreciated by the critics and awarded films have broached the subject of the Romanian an ingredient of the Balkan scenery. In Revolution. In a country that has a well this local reality we find a modest high developed film industry, such a fact could school teacher, Ovidiu Gorea, who has seem redundant, but the three young failed his career as a writer, but now has to improvise in order to increase his directors – Radu Muntean, Corneliu budget and win much younger Diana’s Porumboiu and Cătălin Mitulescu – have heart. Having to deal with this problem, managed to provide an original view of he meets charismatic Pepe (played this event, without having recurring brilliantly by Gheorghe Dinică) the man elements in the three films, except the behind the beggars. The relationship one that still marks today’s Romanian between the two characters, Ovidiu and society: the 1989 Revolution. Pepe is a typical Prince and the Pauper The Paper will Be Blue begins with relationship, master and disciple, but also a scene that invades the audience and an unpredictable one, that finally leads will haunt it until the end – early in to a scenario in which fiction generates the morning two young men get out of reality. From this point of view the end of a troop carrier as their military patrol the film is enlightening, since the characters is going through a routine check and can no longer control the game and they after a few seconds they are shot dead, cannot play their parts anymore because falling victims to the 1989 events. The these have become their own lives. film tries to retrace the preceding events If in E pericoloso spergersi the main of this incident by presenting two young innovation is a matter of narration, in men, who are anonymous at first, through 20 Years since the Revolution: the Emergence of the Romanian Cinema 61 their relationships with the family, their lism, from two different points of view. superiors but also through their opinions Firstly, he proves himself as a minimalist and ideas about the Revolution. judging by the subject of his film, Radu Munteanu’s film does not try to 12:08 East of Bucharest which follows unravel the mystery of the Revolution or a well constructed thread that is in no to show how a serious number of people way altered by details. Secondly, his have died, although some of the ideas minimalism is visible from a technical that appear in the film are still discussed point of view through his comprehensive, today: the presence of terrorists, the poor immutable and immovable frames that communication between the armed forces rarely become close-ups. and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, In 12:08 East of Bucharest the 1989 the lies about poisoning the water and Revolution appears as a recurrent memory, the presence of Arabs in the country. even if 16 years have passed since then, Instead, the focus is on the five persons but one that is being approached from a that were patrolling on the night of the provincial point of view, as the one of 22nd of December, among which were the characters, Pişcoci says: “We have the two victims and we can observe the participated in the revolution by our director’s attempt to create the drama of own possibilities.” Another example the victim of the Revolution, which, for would be the images of the town’s lights us, is just another one in the total number that gradually turn on and off just like of victims, but for his family it is a trauma the revolution’s logic works (Cesereanu, and also an absurd event. 2007). Obviously, we would be naive if A big part of the action takes place in we thought the aim of the film is to answer the troop carrier that rides along the streets the question in its title. In Porumboiu’s of a chaotic Bucharest and the events film the reminiscence of the Revolution are perceived through the inside of this is merely an excuse to have a subject in claustrophobic, but sometimes comfor- a debate on television, doubled by the ting space, that gives the five characters director’s attempt to create a comedy a vague sense of security.

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