When a child steals candles from the cemetery, in order to provide some light means for his family sheltered into a damp basement of a block of flats, this circumstance can say a lot about the sufferance imposed by transition period of time in Romania. This child is one of the seven that Maria has got. She is a 33 years old ordinary woman, whose husband (Ion) is unemployed and has become a drunkard and violently acting, maybe because of his despairing and lack of prospective.
Acting
Diana Dumbravă's face carries entire economic systems collapsing.
Direction
Netzer's handheld camera never lets you look away from suffering.
Cinematography
Grimy basements and gray skies as character, not backdrop.
Director
Călin Peter Netzer
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot during Romania's actual EU accession negotiations, the film captures a country performing prosperity while drowning.
Diana Dumbravă was a non-professional found in a village; her rawness made trained actors look like they were acting.
RO
