Balanta . The Oak
The first film by Lucian Pintilie after his return to Romania after 1989 portrays the country just before Ceausescu's downfall. It is the story of Nela, daughter of a former colonel of the Securitate, the Romanian political police. She refused to become an agent like her sister. After her fathe...
| Other Authors: | |
|---|---|
| Institution: | Open Society Archives at Central European University |
| Language: | Romanian |
| Published: |
Parnasse Production ; Scarabee Films ; MK2 Productions S.A.
1992
Romania |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10891/osa:e297f198-19cc-4c3c-80c9-4b6caeeef005 |
| Summary: | The first film by Lucian Pintilie after his return to Romania after 1989 portrays the country just before Ceausescu's downfall. It is the story of Nela, daughter of a former colonel of the Securitate, the Romanian political police. She refused to become an agent like her sister. After her father dies, she leaves the capital and accepts a job outside Bucharest. She is gang-raped en route to her working place. She also learns that her father was something less than a hero. She ends up in a small town, where she meets Mitica, a surgeon, and they both defend themselves against the harsh and absurd reality of later-Ceausescu era Romania by adopting a shield of cynicism. The movie presents an absurd world that cannot be made sense of; one in which any human being would lose his/her identity or self-respect. |
|---|---|
| Published: | 1992 |