When a king arrests his own dictator at gunpoint, history gets spicy.
Depicts Romania during World War II, focusing on the Royal Coup that toppled Ion Antonescu, the Axis-allied Conducător and authoritarian Prime Minister. Focused around the August 23rd 1944 coup against Marshal Antonescu, the movie also tackles other topics from the same era such as the Iron Guard rebellion and the execution of political leaders by communists.
Acting
Gheorghe Dinică's Mihai Antonescu: sweating, desperate, magnetic.
Direction
Nicolaescu directs himself like a man who knows he's making THE national epic.
Director
Sergiu Nicolaescu
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made five years after Ceaușescu's fall, this was Romania's first major post-communist attempt to reclaim its WWII narrative from ideological distortion.
The real King Mihai was still alive in 1994 and reportedly found the film 'acceptable,' which is royal for 'they didn't completely butcher my legacy.'
RO
