Cinema
The Reenactment
Reconstituirea
Lucian Pintilie · 1970
Synopsis
After their baccalaureate party, two young men, Vuică and Nicu, have beaten up a waiter in a drunken brawl. Rather than prosecute them, a prosecutor, helped by a militiaman and a film crew, has them re-enact the fight for an official film on the harms of alcohol. According to the East European Film Bulletin, Vuică complies willingly, Nicu has doubts without being allowed to think for himself, and the teacher, the only one to protest, remains passive. Between takes, according to Senses of Cinema, they splash about in the river, drink sodas, and help an old peasant woman find her geese.
Context
The screenplay, written with Horia Pătrașcu, is based on a short story by the latter, inspired by a real case that occurred in 1963 in his native town, Caransebeș. Shot in the summer of 1968, the film was released only on Monday 5 January 1970, in a single cinema in Bucharest, the Luceafărul, without publicity or gala. It is often said to have been withdrawn after three days; Mihai Fulger, drawing on the press of the time, establishes that it stayed on the bill for eight weeks, until 1 March, and sold 454,263 tickets in the year. George Constantin plays the prosecutor, George Mihăiță and Vladimir Găitan the two boys.
Who it is for
A film of about a hundred minutes, in Romanian, whose subject is the very shooting of a propaganda film.
Prizes and reception
Chosen by Romanian critics as the best film in the country's history, according to Digi24; Mihai Fulger recalls the myth that surrounds it.
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