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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 . 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: 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 , 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 . 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: , 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 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. This technique from this debate that involves three of perceiving an event from the inside of characters vaguely outlined: an alcoholic a vehicle is fully exploited by the Israeli school teacher, an amateur journalist and director Samuel Maoz in his film Lebanon, a character that used to play Santa Clause winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice before and after the Revolution. Thus, to in 2009. The difference is wonder if there actually was a revolution that the comforting feeling disappears in in Vaslui, the town where the action takes Maoz’s film and it is replaced by insecurity place, is like wondering about Santa and lack of precision. Clause’s existence. The effect of the film seems to show is far beyond the interrogation in the title clearly that he is an adherent of minima- and its possible answer, due to the young 62 Alexandru ISTUDOR director’s ability to create an exemplary motion picture. Unlike the other two comedy from a series of dull events, the films, in How I Spent the End of the World climax of the film being the television we can observe the elimination of long show scene. shots and their replacement by detailed From a certain point of view, the and moving close-ups. In addition, we scene of the television show which can see that Mitulescu relies greatly on exceeds more than half of the film’s 85 the power of images, there is an austerity minutes, gives the audience an aesthetic of dialogues in this regard which leaves emotion similar to that caused by Sidney room for the image to talk and suggest. Of Lumet’s 12 Angry Men. Such comparison course, we can find the usual ideological may seem unfair since the themes are contradictions of the communist era in antagonistic and so is the fervour the Mitulescu’s film: pioneers, patriotic films transmit, but from a technical point songs, but they are not the main focus of view, the dialogue, the clever lines and of the film. the ingenious communication between The sweetening effect of the period the characters makes the expression of before December 1989 is accomplished paroxysm in both films. by the fact that the film focuses on the There is another element that is worth characters’ aspirations, adolescent love, mentioning and also appreciating in both playful childhood (showed especially by Porumboiu and Munteanu’s films. Both little Lalalilu Matei’s fanciful submarine directors manage to create a clear image travels or his desire to kill Ceauşescu of the 1989 events for those who do not because he was making people suffer ) know what happened then because of and particularly the existential problems their age or the fact that they have been of the character Eva Matei. The film is manipulated during the Revolution therefore a combination of a cruel, abusive (Cesereanu, 2007). and unfair reality and the dreaming effects Cătălin Mitulescu’s How I Spent the that compensate everyday life, hence the End of the World offers a sweetened fact that the Revolution is portrayed as a version of the Revolution, although it is positive change, without all the drama presented in an indirect way. In Mitul- and debates that we find in The Paper escu’s motion picture we can observe Will Be Blue and 12:08 East of Bucharest. his tendency to reconstruct part of the Romanian society in the upcoming event Romanian Palme D’Or of 1989, the achievement surpassing, in 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days has my opinion, the aesthetic in The Paper become the film that set the seal on the Will Be Blue and 12:08 East of Bucharest. new Romanian cinema wave not just What also produces this effect is the because it was awarded the 2007 Palme different technical method used by D’Or, but mainly due to the enthusiasm Mitulescu to film and construct the that it produced in reviews, both in 20 Years since the Revolution: the Emergence of the Romanian Cinema 63

Romania and abroad. Naturally, we can of the abortion itself, but because of the say that Alex. Leo Şerban (2009) was right repercussions that can appear if it is dis- when he said that this award wouldn’t covered. have come if it had not been preceded by In 432 the recalling of the period other similar awards at Cannes. One thing before 1990 is a tragic and shaking one is certain: this film has placed Romania and also a painful reminiscence for those on the cinema map for good. who have lived in those times while Director ’s interest unprecedented for the audience. for the “Golden Age” has materialized so far in two completely different, but The Romanian film complementary films: 432 and Tales and the (media) news from the Golden Age. Although 432 was Two of the films originally destined to be a part of Tales are based on unusual pieces of news that from the Golden Age, its complex subject have appeared in the mass-media: Cristi made it suitable for a feature film with Puiu’s The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu and a story that cannot be only reduced to California Dreamin’ (endless) by late the abortion issue in the communist era. . This “coincidence” And while we are on the subject, one can might imply one of the characteristics only observe that this theme has been of the contemporary Romanian film, the addressed with plain objectivity, without fact that it has a significant component sending a one side message on abortion of cinéma vérité, reflecting the Romanian politics, thus being a politically correct directors’ desire of addressing film as film. an entity which has both an artistic and Rather than being considered another documentary value. motion picture about abortion, Mungiu’s This characteristic is more visible in film can be given the credit of recreating, The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu, a film which through the power of images, an absurd suggests that any of us could be Mr. system that was functional before 1990 Lăzărescu (even the name is a common and whose influence is felt by characters one) and which also tries to highlight the in every scene, Mr. Bebe being the alteration of the Romanian society and exponent of this reality and, probably, the Kafka-like universe of its hospitals. In its typical villain. Therefore, we can fact, the film relies on the effect produced say that 432 is a drama that has been on the Romanian audience, but not only, conceived and filmed as to be perceived by its identification, not so much with like a documentary, but to be lived as the Lăzărescu character, but with the a (Gorzo, 2009). The system’s situations he goes through. impact on the individual is presented in However, ’s film is not an aggressive and tense manner, since the confined to the social aspect that is characters are under strain not because undoubtedly present, but offers the audi- 64 Alexandru ISTUDOR ence a structure that defies the classic sometimes sinuous story, alternating . Usually, this kind of film between narratives from 1999 and the suggests an initiating journey, under 1944 bombardments. the influence of the archaic journey of We can observe in California Dreamin’ Odysseus and the events are focused on a desire to tackle history in a cynical the maturation process of the characters manner, by focusing on some of the and on finding the meaning of their lives. clichés that held the attention of the In the classic road movie “the end of the Romanian society and which exist, in journey is its continuation, or a new a paradoxical way, in the present of the journey” (Laderman, 2000). By contrast, film. Firstly, they refer to the period in The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu, the road following the Second World War, when movie is a reversal of valences in which the Americans were expected to come the character begins, in fact, a journey and to the Romanians’ desire to avoid towards his death and not in the least the Soviet alternative. Ironically, the towards a significant event for his future station master is one of those who had life. One of the innovations of this movie been waiting for the Americans for 50 is the fact that it is mostly constructed years and when they finally arrive he on the same item: after the scenes in Mr. refuses to permit them to leave, in a Lăzărescu’s apartment, the film becomes gesture that could be interpreted both as a journey between hospitals, the entrance compensatory and vindictive. Secondly, and the exit in and out of each of these the film intents to bring into attention being redundant in space but authentic certain specific aspects of the Balkans, from the characters and the story’s point thus being similar to Emir Kusturica’s of view. The washing and shaving at films through its tone, atmosphere and the end of the film carried out silently the way in which it combines comedy and cleverly by two women symbolizes with tragic notes. Bureaucracy, the party not his saving but the ritual for his last organized for the American soldiers by journey (Rado, 2006). the village’s mayor, the girls’ fascination California Dreamin’ (endless) is dis- for the foreign soldiers are all typical tinguishable by the fact that the news at clichés of this area as well as Captain the bottom of this story captures a rather Jones’s speech before the villagers, silly accident: a train carrying NATO and denouncing tyranny and arguing his American military equipment to Kosovo role as a megalomaniac U.S. citizen in is stopped in a station by its master, with the “liberation” of the village from its the pretext of legislative inaccuracies in influential station master. Even the their papers. Nemescu, however, does not violent acts from the end of the film make a film that presents this fact in a suggest certain local realities, which truthful and accurate manner, but uses makes Nemescu’s film an irony, a comedy it as a pretext to construct a well built, and a tragedy at the same time, towards 20 Years since the Revolution: the Emergence of the Romanian Cinema 65 the Balkan space and the identities that Renato and their fantasies in telling it creates. the stories since the two are the only Before he made his debut in feature characters that do not leave the victims, film, Nemescu has experimented short despite their decline. The differences and medium film, one of them announ- between the two films are too great to cing, in fact, the young director’s flair. be analyzed here, but one thing is worth mentioning: the space in Tornatore’s by Nemescu – film is benign and its characters get Malena by Tornatore their redemption in the end, while in In the medium film Marilen from P7 Nemescu’s story there is a malign world, we can observe a combination of refe- with no turning back for its characters. rences to other films and the veracity of In Malena the return of the feminine stories that take place in an urban area, character to her pre-war class status is dominated by violence and traffic. subtly marked in the closing sequences The opening scene of the film – two where the wife reduced to prostitution children come out of a bus driven by their during the German occupation buys fruit father – has the role of introducing the (Celli, 2004). audience in a malign world and is similar There is only one incongruous element to that in A Bronx Tale, where another in the internal construction of the film, father warns his son to stay away from the Marilena’s suicide, not because it lacks troubles in the neighborhood. The Bronx, a motive, but because there is no prior fully exploited by American filmmakers, evidence that could shape and legitimate is replaced in Nemescu’s film by the grey this gesture. and peripheral block of flats of a nearly ghetto-like neighbourhood. 2009 and Romanian film: Another nexus of Nemescu’s film, Policeman, Adjective which we can find in the European The audience familiar with the mi- cinema, this time, refers to its relationship nimalist technique from 12:08 East of with Giuseppe Tornatore’s Malena. Bucharest is subject to a new attempt by Young Andrei’s fascination for Marilena, a the young director Corneliu Porumboiu, prostitute is similar to Renato’s obsession in his second feature film, Police, for Malena, but the Italian director’s Adjective, winner in 2009 of a series of film has a magic component, that of the awards, including A Certain Regard and evocation of childhood in Sicily, that does FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes. Porumboiu’s not belong in the peripheral Romanian technique from 12:08 East of Bucharest is neighborhood. The comparison can maximized here. Long, immutable frames continue by analyzing the perspectives with insignificant movements of the of the two films. Both of them use objective are legitimized by the story of the adolescent candor, the tribulations of film and serve to suggest the tribulations the two teenage characters, Andrei and that are being put on police officer Cristi. 66 Alexandru ISTUDOR

In fact, the dialogue is minimal, precisely Corneliu Porumboiu deserves appre- because the tension and the intensity of ciation, mainly because he develops a the film are transmitted through images personal view, being the and not words, as we would expect. From only Romanian director that remains this point of view, the film presents a faithful to this technique that constructs reality that is comparable to the one in the narrative in a simple frame, designed Michael Haneke’s Cache, where we can to suggest rather than providing details to observe a largely static view and the the audience. audience follows the ways suggested by the director, thus developing a sense of Conclusion insecurity and instability. There are several aspects that can Another recurring element in Porum- be imputed to the modern Romanian boiu’s film refers to the final scene where film: the lack of a school for film actors, the camera focuses on the climax of the the poor management of CNC funds by dialogue between Cristi (played by Dragoş financing projects that do not deserve Bucur) and his captain (Vlad Ivanov), a it, the reduced interest of the Romanian debate, similar to the one in 12:08 East government in supporting the cinema, of Bucharest, but shorter and with moral but these obstacles have not stood in the implications on the characters. The end way of making Romanian productions scene offers a certain alteration in the successful. Directors as the ones menti- internal construction of the film, but the oned above have given a new spark to the story’s minimalism – a police officer that post-communist Romanian cinema and has to decide if he will judge the facts there are signs that this creativity will from a moral or a legal point of view – not stop here. In addition, by winning proves to be unaltered since the audience important prizes the bar has been raised, is not offered the possibility to see the which means that those who wish to state world in which the alleged hashish will have to overcome local inhibitions dealers live. but also their predecessors.

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