vineri, 26 decembrie 2014

A Romanian boy's life in the sixties

The hardships of a Romanian boy and his family from Bogdan Voda village were probably romanticised in this movie for American classrooms made in 1972 by director/cameraman, prof. a. Baskin.
Nicolae Ceaușescu was already in power since 1965. The boy's brother writes from Rumania: 

"He was born in May 1959. His life was a farmer until 1986 after which he moved to town: After the 1989 revolution in Romania's situation was constantly changing and he decided to go to France in 1997 after many failing to leave the country for us to create a better life than the one he took it! But in August 1998, was found dead in the house where he lived in Paris." A tragic ending to this short life !

The film, called Radu: Boy of Roumania (sic) was made by Andre Waksman and Arnold Baskin (a Google search for the pair was fruitless) with the apparent intention of being shown in American schools, and it centres on a boy, Radu, and the life he leads in a village (Bogdan Voda) in Maramures.
We will let you make your own minds up as to whether it’s any good or not. All we will say is that we rather liked it, and anyone interested in Romania – especially recent Romanian history – will find watching it time well spent.
Oh, and two more quick thoughts:
1. While it has its delusional ‘this life is idyllic’ moments, the film is far more realistic and objective about the hardships of rural Romanian life than a number of more recent films, news reports and books we could mention.
2. It is clear that the filmmakers had totally unfettered access to their subjects. The film is not propaganda and no effort is made to disguise any of the less salubrious aspects of Romanian life at that time. One example: in order to wash, children are shown having to draw water from a well. It is very doubtful that the authorities would have allowed any filmmaker (local or foreign) to document such backwardness (not to mention the rather painfully thin kids) just a few years later.

Endless Love – Îndrăgostiţi pentru totdeauna (2014)


Lucy-2014





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