This Romanian film is really an exorcism of the communist past. It really consists of four separate stories of the urban myths, or did the event really happen?, under the perfect society of Nicolae Ceau?escu’s regime, (the Romanians are good on irony).
The official visit
So we have the tale of the official visit, where a small, rural village prepares tries to set up a perfect reception for some of the communist leaders as they drive through, or will they stop off for some food, on their regional visit.
Why are there cows? You should have sheep. Where can you get hold of white pigeons within two hours? And should the carousel for the village’s annual fair be up or removed and will the fat, local policeman give them any petrol to run it?
Officials arrive to check everything is ready for the visit. They arrogantly disrupt the village and exploit the village’s hospitality as they demand entertainment, food and drink.
The final scene on the carousel is a very funny metaphor, not just for Romanian politics, but for politics in general.
The pig
Imagine you are living in a large tower block, in fact in Romania everybody did, well except for the communist hierarcy, who needed more space, and luxurious surrounding, to enable them to server the masses. So you’re living in this large, housing complex and it is illegal to trade in food, with years in jail.
And well let’s imagine, no you’ve actually got, an idiot cousin, who has agreed to supply a pig for you to eat, and to share with a doctor as a bribe. Well it’s late at night and cousin turns up with the pig, a big fat pig, a live pig, a live squealing pig, that you’re going to have to slaughter in your tiny little flat. And you have to do it without any of the neighbours knowing. Well it’s difficult as the film demonstrates.
The other sections
The three other sections show the problems of the man, corrupted by supplying eggs to a very attractive woman, who runs a restaurant; a young school girl, who is budding entrepreneur, within the used bottle racket and the problems of a newspaper picture editor to make Ceau?escu stand tall, in a world with no digital cameras or Photoshop, (pass the scissors and glue).
Conclusion
This is a really charming, slightly humorous, informative film. It shows how the downtrodden people of Romania survived during the terrible times of the autocratic regime. The film is particularly good at the small detail, such as the fat kid at school giving food to a girl, so that he could go to her birthday party.