The 80s evokes connotations of big hair, synth-pop and leg warmers. In Romania, however, the only hint of it being the 80s was a black market video player. Cristian Mungiu’s film tells us five Urban Legends from the Ceausescu regime, supposedly the “Golden Age” of Communist Propaganda in Romania.
BY EMMA GALLEN
The film’s structure was clever and modern, keeping those who are ignorant of Romania’s history interested. The opening tale, “The Legend of the Official Visit”, shows village life and the commotion involved in preparing for a motorcade with a large dose of humour. The second tale was “The Legend of the Party Photographer”, which highlighted the importance of propaganda for the Communist regime; one picture with Ceausescu without a hat when Capitalists were wearing theirs’ results in mild chaos. Like the opening tale, “The Legend of the Party Photographer” gives insight into the importance of appearance but does so in a humorous and well directed manner. The low point of the film for me was the third, middle story, “The Legend of the Chicken Driver.” This tale focuses more on relationships and implies an affair, but it was too subtle for us to pick up whether or not the Chicken Driver does cheat on his wife or whether the real motive behind all his actions was just to make more money. This section dragged, without really saying anything which, following the first two episodes, was very disappointing. Our fourth instalment from “Tales of the Golden Age” is “The Legend of the Greedy Policeman.” This story was possibly the funniest, with a pig at the centre of the comedy. It was traditional to eat pork at Christmas, although the rations meant no one could get hold of any, so when the policeman’s cousin offered to bring a pig for the policeman’s family, he was delighted. The pig, however, was alive and the comedy comes from the attempt to slaughter it, quietly. The final tale was argunably the most relevant to someone as young as the typical student at QUB. “The Legend of the Air Sellers” shows us 18 year old Crina and student Bughi capitalize on people’s fear of the authority, and ask for “air samples” in bottles so as to then sell the bottles. Crina initially wants to raise money for a school trip but then she falls for Bughi and just wants to be Bonnie to his Clyde.
Overall, as someone totally oblivious to Romanian history, I found the film pretty good. If the middle story had been cut out I probably would extend my praise. The movie is definitely worth seeing both for an education and for a few laughs.
Tales of the Golden Age is showing now at the QFT