In post-communist Romania, young prosecutor Dumitru Costa is sent to investigate a miner's suspicious death in the Jiu Valley. As he delves deeper, he uncovers a network of corruption and negligence within the local mining community. Costa's pursuit of justice pits him against powerful interests, testing his resolve in a society struggling with the aftermath of transition.
Direction
Pintilie's unflinching eye—every frame reeks of coal dust and complicity.
Acting
Vasilescu's Costa: a man quietly drowning in his own decency.
Cinematography
Jiu Valley as purgatory—gray, suffocating, unforgettable.
Director
Lucian Pintilie
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made six years after the 1990 Mineriad, when miners were bused to Bucharest to crush anti-Iliescu protests—Pintilie turns them from political weapons to forgotten corpses.
Pintilie called this his 'most autobiographical' film; like Costa, he returned to Romania after exile and found the same rot wearing new flags.
RO
