Corneliu Porumboiu - A fost sau n-a fost? / 12:08 East of Bucharest (2006)

Published by Ice Zero | Filed under Video

One Romanian newsman attempts to put his nation’s revolution on the air after the fact in this satiric comedy from writer and director Corneliu Porumboiu. It’s the sixteenth anniversary of the revolt that removed Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu from power in Romania, and Jderescu (Ion Sapdaru) is the host of a televised public affairs show who wants to do a special program on the revolution. Jderescu’s idea is to bring on a handful of ordinary citizens to discuss their role in Ceausescu’s overthrow and how their lives have changed since Communist rule was swept from Romania. However, Jderescu can only round up two guests for his broadcast — elderly Piscoci (Mircea Andreescu), who’s more interested in playing Santa Claus for the neighborhood kids than talking politics, and Manescu (Teo Corban), a schoolteacher nursing a brutal hangover. As Jderescu tries to lead a serious discussion of how Romania has changed since Ceausescu was driven from power, the conversation wanders off on a tangent about where the revolution actually took place, and the waters become even more muddied when Jderescu opens up the phone lines for questions from viewers, most of whom have their own distinct (and strongly conflicting) memories of the Revolution . . .






Structured in two parts, this bureslesque and gentle critique of the post-Iron curtain Romanian society first introduce the interlaced lives of Manescu, Piscoci and Jderescu through the habits and problems of simple people. Hangover remorses, loans and debts, christmas trees and Santa Claus costumes, firecrackers jokes, neighbor clashes… Intimate scenes with tender banality observing the struggling humanity of proud characters within their very social environment, at home with their wife, at the pub, at school, in the street.This lucid derision reminds of the wry social humour of Kieslowski and more recently, Christi Puiu’s riveting The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, also from Roumania. The second part unfolds over a real-time sequence of this history talk show on TV, hosted by Jderescu, a middle-aged TV producer very much fond of his screen persona.






On the anniversary day of Ceausescu’s demise, three men debate on local TV show whether the street protests started before or after 12:08, time when the end of the communist dictatorship was proclaimed on TV. Viewers call seem to contradict the heroic version presented by the guests. The literal title means “Was it or was it not?”, a question repeated tirelessly until someone can prove there was a popular revolution in their town, alike the ones in Timisoara and Bucharest. Were the people that brave or did the alcoholic selective memory altered the perception of this euphoric and confusing liberation?






A chinese shopkeeper, victim of racists comments, will nonetheless shed an outsider look on this silly quibble in particular and on the Romanian people in general. “You Romanians should stop insulting/accusing eachothers!” Ironically the disgraceful absence of heroism is complacently clouded by a nitpicky reconstitution of crucial minutes around the official capitulation. Evidently this rally wasn’t anything like the bloodbath of the French Revolution, subtly referenced twice in the film. Emphasizing the absurdity of pseudo-minutiae accuracy (timeline mockery by anonymous liars fortunately invisible at the othe end of the phone line), the serious of this debate seems to be the only way for them to grab some local glory from the national uprising.






This low-budget channel is totally burelesque. The cameraman trainee can’t frame right and has “cinéma-vérité” aspirations. Awkward shots and clumsy zooms, the filmmaker enjoys to give us a faulty camerawork, shaking the cinema widescreen like an amateur homevideo. The effect is hilarious and contributes to embarass the protagonists and lighten up their “grave” discussion. Jderescu, the owner and star anchor, struggles to give some professional dignity to the program, while his bored friends fold or tear paper on air.

A remarkable debut film, of modest but talented ambition, supported by the Cannes Cinéfondation at the Festival Residence. Selected at the Director’s Fortnight, won the Camera d’Or (Best debut film) at Cannes 2006. Harry Tuttle




Dieciséis años después de que la multitud obligara al dictador rumano Ceaucescu a huir de Bucarest, el dueño de un canal local de televisión ofrece a dos invitados compartir sus momentos de gloria revolucionaria. Uno es un viejo retirado y eventual Santa Claus; el otro, un profesor de Historia que acaba de gastarse el sueldo completo en saldar sus deudas de alcohol. Juntos recordarán el día en que asaltaron el ayuntamiento a los gritos de “Abajo Ceaucescu”. Pero los telespectadores que llaman por teléfono cuestionan las reivindicaciones de los autoproclamados “héroes”, que más parecían haber estado festejando con vodka la marcha del dictador que forzando su caída.

Thanks to dystopianart (KG)