Romanian Cinematography and Film Culture During the Communist Regime

Romanian Cinematography and Film Culture during the Communist Regime by Nela Gheorghica, Italy Abstract Cinematography and film culture in Romania were used as instruments for cultural manipulation and political propaganda since the beginning of the communist era, either by imposing certain themes on national productions, or by censoring almost all foreign film productions entering the cinema network. Thus, the movies produced outside Romanian borders often suffered content alteration in order to fit communist ideology, if shown at all. We argue that the evolution of cinematography and film culture matched the con- troversial existence of Romanian censorship itself and the ever-changing official position towards the Western community. As will be discussed, Romanian people benefited from strictly controlled film entertainment, with only a few exceptions, such as the Cinematheque and Cinema Almanac, and had no direct and complete access to information on certain movies or directors, since press and cinema were drenched with pro-communist, anti-capitalist messages. fter more than 20 years since the 1989 by censoring (totally or partially) the foreign ARevolution, Romanian communism con- films entering the national cinema networks. tinues to be a somehow dim subject, both in- In our paper, we chose to focus our attention side and outside Romanian borders, as some on the case of Romanian cinematography and of the most important works dealing with pri- film culture of the respective era, while trying vate and public life from 1945 to 1989 went al- to underline its particularities. most unnoticed at the national level and were When speaking about the Romanian not translated at all into foreign languages. It cinematography and film culture during the is no wonder that it was only briefly taken into Communist regime (1945–1989), historians consideration and referred to in the ground- seem to agree that it follows in the footsteps of breaking Black Book of Communism (1997) and the contorted history of Romanian censorship. in Stéphane Courtois’ Dictionary of Communism Chronologically speaking, it can be divided (2007), as state authorities themselves have no into three distinct periods: from 1945 to 1964 official agenda in recovering lost memories – when the Declaration of April was signed, of a past not yet completely assumed. Only through which the Romanian Workers’ Party in 2005, 16 years after the Revolution and the sanctioned the relative political independence collapse of the communist regime, was the from the Soviet bloc (Şercan 2012, p. 338), from Institute for the Investigation of Communist 1965 to 1971 (a brief period of controlled lib- Crimes in Romania (IICCR) founded, followed eralism, when arts generally could flourish by the Presidential Official Report Condemn- again) (Rusan 2012, p. 114) and from 1971 to ing the Communist Regime one year later (Ro- 1989, years marked by the return to the ideo- manian Presidency 2006). logical purity of the cultural mini-revolution It is already well-known that cinema, sanctioned by Ceauşescu’s July Thesis (Maliţa along with many other cultural productions, 2012, p. 213). was used as an instrument for manipulation The 1950s are characterized by extensive and political propaganda in all communist and severe control of all screenings, which countries, either by imposing certain themes mostly included Soviet films and a few cho- and dispositions on national productions, or sen politically “neutral” western productions. Euxeinos 11 (2013) 6 Nela Gheorghica During the 1960s and 1970s though, cinema did not bother the audiences, as long as they entered the “golden age” of the communist pe- could reach out to the outside world. For in- riod with the foundation of the Cinematheque stance, a western blockbuster such as “Gone and the expansion of the network of cinema with the Wind” (1939) became a cult movie halls. These facilities hosted an increasing for Romanians only in 1970 (!), when it was number of spectators and going to cinema be- screened here for the first time (Caranfil 2009, came a form of leisure for people of all ages vol. 4, p. 298). The December 1966 Cinema Al- and backgrounds, from the countryside to the manac edition included the top ten foreign capital. During this period the Romanian pub- premiers of the year in Bucharest, featuring lic had access to the most recent Western mov- Teshigahara’s Woman in the Dunes (1964), ies, which were only briefly censored and only Tony Richardson’s Tom Jones (1963) and A lacked the so-called “pornographic” scenes Taste of Honey (1961), John Ford’s Stagecoach deemed offensive by the communist system of (1939!), Stanley Kramer’s Judgment at Nurem- family values. berg (1961), Wajda’s Ashes and Diamonds (1958), The period after the second half of the Kakogiannis’ Zorba (1964), Huston’s The Night 1970s and until the December Revolution is of the Iguana (1964), The Shop on Main Street characterized by Romania’s international dec- (1964) and Pierre Étaix’s Yoyo (1965) (p. VIII). laration of its ideological independence from the Soviet Union, the return to severe totalitar- The Situation of Cinema from an Of- ian practices, and by the instauration of the cult ficial Standpoint of the personality surrounding the presiden- As Lenin himself famously remarked, tial family (Troncotă 2006, p. 208). The newly „Cinema, for us, is the most important of the found singularity and the cold diplomatic re- arts”. Therefore films and film distribution lations with the former allies also triggered an were considered to be of great significance economic recession. Therefore, the communist in communist Romania, too. Decree no. 303 regime also decreased its investments in the from the 1948 Constitution sanctioned the na- movie industry. As a result, most of the avail- tionalization of the entire film industry and able representations were films obtained by regulated the way cinema products were to be barter – Romanian movies exchanged for oth- commercialized; all cinema halls and film rolls ers, most of them produced within the Soviet on the market were to become state property, Union. The Western productions still entered which made cinematography much more eas- the country, but many of them had a different ier to control and manipulate (Troncotă 2006, title and no credits to avoid potential copy- p. 83). In May 1949 the General Direction of right lawsuits. The decline in cinematography the Press and Printing was founded as a natu- was quite obvious, since the same films were ral addition to the General Direction of State screened over and over again, while cinema Security (1948). It became the institution di- halls gradually emptied. Daily TV broadcasts rectly responsible for censorship in all sectors, were cut to only two hours, which underlines including the production, acquisition and dis- the degree of state control over all existing in- tribution of films, whose prerogatives only information channels. creased in the following years (Cubleşan 212, Although Romanian premiers did not al- p. 65). ways coincide with the international ones, this Ever since the mid-1950s to mid-1970s, it Euxeinos 11 (2013) 7 Nela Gheorghica was officially believed that “the influence cin- ing a political and propagandistic scope. The ema had upon the consciousness of the masses rest of them (60%) belonged to more neutral is intense and continuous, since cinematog- genres, such as pure entertainment, musi- raphy is the art gathering the largest number cal comedies, and children’s films (Popescu of spectators” (Vasile 2008, p. 316). According 2011, p. 281). With only a few exceptions, the to Ceauşescu himself, “film is one of the most national cinema followed in the footsteps of important means for propaganda”, therefore the official political doctrine, as the most com- the need to carefully control its content is also mon themes were the anti-capitalist and anti- of paramount importance (quoted in Palade fascist communist resistance, the finding and 2010, p. 7). neutralizing of western spies, bourgeois deca- The situation of cinema was often dis- dence and misdeeds promptly stopped by the cussed during the sessions of the Commis- honest communist representatives etc. Among sion for Ideology of the Romanian Communist the most popular film writers and directors, Party (1968) and the Secretary Sessions of the we should mention Liviu Ciulei, who was Central Committee of the Romanian Com- nominated for the Palme d’Or with The Forest munist Party (1970). A stenography dating of the Hanged (1965), Sergiu Nicolaescu (who from February 10th, 1970, presided by Nicolae was also a very active actor, famous for play- Ceauşescu, documented that “world cinema- ing in detective and historical movies), Titus tography is dominated by films about vio- Popovici, Dan Piţa, Mircea Danieliuc, Alexan- lence, sexual problems, commercial movies, dru Tatos etc. Lucian Pintilie, another name and movies of great ideological value appear important to the history of Romanian cinema- quite seldom. Cinematography in the socialist tography, became persona non grata after the countries also brings about a series of prob- making of Reconstruction (1968). The film in lems, since the quality of films is not even very which he openly criticizes the authorities and good there” (quoted in Palade 2010, pp. 6-7). the damages brought by communism within In consequence, Ceauşescu’s July The- society and at the individual level was banned sis (1971) sanctioned that: “measures will be until 1989. taken to balance the movies presented in our cinema halls, limiting the screening of police and adventure movies, banning those films The evolution of Romanian censor- spreading violence and vulgarity, advocating ship the bourgeois lifestyle” (quoted in Popescu Although it previously existed for reli- 2011, p.192). The direct results of these deci- gious, political or ethnic reasons, Romanian sions were visible not only in the way foreign censorship took the shape of an ideological movies were censored and often misrepre- blockade and political isolation after 23 Au- sented, but also in the national film produc- gust 1944 with the presence of the Red Army tion, marked by the return to the strict rules of (Troncotă 2006, p.

Load more