I'm happy to say that I've had the opportunity of viewing Stere Gulea's latest film before its official release, although I suppose displaying it as part of a festival -- the Transilvania International Film Festival, aka TIFF -- sort of counts as a pretty official release, doesn't it? I mean I get that festivals ain't cinemas, but TIFF ain't as exclusive as Cannes either. Besides, I paid a dirt cheap sum of less than 5 bucks to see it, so I can't say that I feel that much privileged. Not that it matters any; the more important part is that I can't help but analyze the current piece with respect and in contrast to the previous one.
Moromeții 3 picks it up about a decade from where Moromeții 2 left it. Ilie Moromete never died1, but he isn't the main character of this third part either. Our hero is now Niculae, with Pastina replaced by one Alex Călin. The change is somewhat welcome if you ask me, especially since they managed to make Călin look very much like Marin Preda in his youth. Which kind of hits the point at its core: the script isn't exactly an adaptation of Viața ca o pradă; and at the same time it's quite far away from the original Moromeții books, and a biography of Marin Preda himself.
Much like its predecessor, Moromeții 3 tries to say some stuff; it sets the context by repeating the very same communist tropes, a context where two young folks fall in and out of love, their fate shaped by the machinations of an "evil"2 regime. I'll admit, the documentary value of the old regime is indeed valuable: women didn't have as much of a voice as they had today, but adultery was tolerated and even encouraged as a control mechanism. Meanwhile the more intelligent among the peasants, who figured out what this new world was all about, yielded, while the ones who didn't had to bite the bullet3. Although to be fair, this doesn't say anything, say, about northern Romania, where collectivization quite pointedly did not work, even though Maramureș was as close to the USSR as a country could be.
I'll make a short parenthesis here: I've recently seen a series and a movie on Romanian communism -- one of them, the Spy/Master Netflix series on Mihai Pacepa and the other, Metronom, a film on the Romanian reaction to the assassination of Cornel Chiriac, dissident and Romanian radio host at Radio Free Europe Germany. This is quite a lot to unpack, I don't have the space to do it here; what I wanted to say is that I find it no surprise that they cast Mara Bugărin as Aurora Cornu, as she also plays the role of a smart young girl in Metronom; nor that they took Laurențiu Bănescu in the role of the chief of a local journal, since whaddaya know, he plays a Security dude in Spy/Master as well. I think that they're both very good actors in their roles, much better than Alex Călin is in his own main role. But I also think that the proverbial person living in communism has become too easy a role to play by anyone, since I bet that even young Mara has crossed upon the remnants of some communist thing or the other in her life up to now.
Anyways, Moromeții features quite a great cast, but the great cast -- Marian Râlea, Oana Pellea, Răzvan Vasilescu, Toma Cuzin and of course, the man himself, old Mălăele -- is made up mainly of episodic characters. I appreciate the fact that Stere Gulea gave young actors a chance in the spotlight, I really do, but let us also agree that they weren't anywhere near the level of their old colleagues. Maybe it's because they're young, or maybe it's because acting schools are following the same pattern of degradation as education overall. I don't know, I'm not smart and knowledgeable enough to tell, but either way, I do wish Alex Călin and Olimpia Melinte, arguably the film's main characters, had more moments where they acted as actual humans. Maybe it wasn't them, maybe sometimes the script was too unpolished and they had to work with what they had, or maybe it was just the fact that they were all on a very tight budget -- the filming took only about a month! -- I really don't know. But unfortunately this is why Moromeții 2 and 3 are nowhere near the masterpiece that the first movie was. But don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed it still.
For example I really enjoyed the soundtrack, from the urban pieces in the '50s to the lăutărească pieces over in Siliștea; I enjoyed the overall quality of sound and the effort that they made to recreate the atmosphere of old Bucharest, with its statue of Lenin, its "house of spark", the old buildings and the trams. And this time around I loved the imagery and how it smoothly went from the old film effect to the black and white tones. Take for example the scene from Sinaia where Niculae meets the Jewish writer who was just back from Budapest, and her recalling stories of Hungarian democracy while the waiter was listening in, while she was confessing that she needs a bit of strong alcohol to get her functioning -- that's just plain beautfiul and memorable.
The Q&A session following the initial screening, with Gulea, Melinte and Călin participating, made the whole thing all the more memorable. Gulea admitted two things among others: that the movie was a cultural rather than a commercial "entertainment" endeavour, and that the budget was very tight. I bet he knows that these two aspects go hand in hand, and that this is precisely why I think that Moromeții 3 requires at least some commercial success. So if you ask me, go see the movie (it's going to be out at the end of November) and make up your own mind about it.
I'll review this, or who knows, maybe the whole trilogy, maybe a decade from now.
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And our dear director admitted that he left that hanging on purpose, although back then he didn't know that he'd make a third movie. ↩
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I suppose this commentary doesn't have much to do with the movie, so let me put it inside a footnote, although it's going to be a footnote that in my opinion will echo into the future as a clearer reflection of Gulea's message.
First off, I'll have to say that I haven't really lived through communism; but since we're here, let's clarify that "communism" isn't a single, atomic thing. Stalinist communism, which Moromeții 3 presents, is a wholly different beast from the nationalist communism implemented by Ceaușescu. I'll readily agree with the reader that either of the two communisms was "evil" to some degree or another, but only inasmuch as we can agree that today's democratic regime is, well... what do you know, it's also quite evil! That is what I mean by the aforementioned communist tropes, in case that wasn't clear.
So unlike some other viewers in the room who did live through communism, I couldn't look at Major Whomeverthefuck from the Romanian Security with hateful eyes. He was just doing his job, you see, very much like today's agents are also doing their jobs. He was holding the official line, just like most of y'all are doing; but unlike him, who knew precisely why he was there, you do it because that's how you can delude yourself that you live in the best possible world and whatnot, despite the obvious observation that you're poor and stupid. But hey, at least you showed Putin, didn't you? Not that that matters any.
What matters is the underlying theme, that despite the inane ramblings of Marx and his followers, feudalism never died and all the revolutions, from the communist one to the one in 1989 to the current crap, were just paving the way for changes in power; and it's most obvious today who has the power, and for quite a while now the power has belonged to "the beoble" only inasmuch as said beoble were told exactly how to wield it.
So then by all means, go and vote this season as well, just like you did the last one. You'll keep on believing that your vote was yours, and all the same "your" politicians will work on splitting the dough, all the while listening to the directives coming from above, like the mercenaries that they are. Precisely like they used to do in them Soviet times, or even more so. But sure, just like in that Thin Lizzy song, don't believe a word I tell you. Now, if only you'd applied the same to the official propaganda, we'd be going somewhere! ↩
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Following up on my previous note: believe me, had communists had the technology, they'd also have enforced more "humane" coercion mechanisms, such as social isolation, borderline forced injections with doubtful substances, pitting people against each other and in general, the overall approach that gets people to favour their own death over living. Suicide booths are the new hot thing, haven't you heard the news? ↩
Marian Râlea is still alive and active? The Magician of our childhood?
Fuck I'm old...
Yes, him precisely!
I know he's been doing some "serious" stuff in the past decade, but mostly theater. He does a great communist-type role here -- the "nice" neighbour who's friends with everyone and who'll siphon to the services without mercy when given the opportunity.