Tales From The Golden Age

Following on from the remarkable and shocking 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days, Cristian Mungiu uses here the format of the compendium movie to present other facets of life in the so-called "Golden Age" of Romania under the regime of Communist leader Ceausescu, where the reality for people on the ground was very different from the image being projected by Party officials. Tales from the Golden Age then presents five stories from the Ceausescu and immediate post-Ceausescu era, each of them standalone, all scripted by Mungiu but only one directed by him, each of them told in the form of "urban legends", since inevitably, if there was any truth to the stories at all, their failure to present the great Romanian Communist programme in any kind of a favourable light would certainly have seen their suppression from the press.

That makes the stories sound relentlessly grim, showing a oppressed populace living in fear of a corrupt and paranoid regime, but the approach in Tales from the Golden Age is in marked contrast to such bleak depictions in The Death Of Mr Lazarescu or indeed Mungui's own 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days, presenting instead a more absurdly surreal view of living under a dictatorship intent on controlling every aspect of how people live and how their regime is represented in the more sedate and humorous style of 12:08 East Of Bucharest or California Dreamin'. Breaking this down into five separate short films of varying length, the impact achieved by the other longer and more serious depictions of life in Ceausescu's Romania is inevitably considerably diminished, but collectively they still present a fine sense of the issues faced by the Romanian people simply trying to live during this period. The shortages of food and even water and the rationing of basic essentials when balanced against the need to project an image of solidarity drive the people in these short films to extraordinary lengths to simply get by, and they inevitably sometimes commit stupid mistakes in the process or just stop caring. If the true menace that underlies and dictates their lifestyles is lessened by these blackly humorous urban legends, it nonetheless still feels like a more rounded and perhaps just as accurate portrayal of life as it was lived by most ordinary people in Romania during this time.

The film looks almost flawless on the UK DVD from Trinity, the image crisp, clear and colourful, the audio available in stereo and surround mixes, in Romanian with optional English subtitles. The extra features consist of a Trailer and another complete 18-minute episode cut from the film - The Legend of the Zealous Activist, dealing with an attempt by the Party to improve literacy in one small village. The quality here is of the same standard as the feature.

The movie is just excellent. The last fifteen years of communism were the first fifteen years of my life. Every little detail in the movie reminds me of my life in Romania during that period. And this is how we survived, by making fun of the situation, which the movie shows it so well. Romania is a different country now, but this movie will always remind me of my childhood. The streets, the houses, the shops, the people, etc., are all so real. I had the best laugh watching this movie.

This movie brought back to me many memories, having lived in Ceausescu's "Golden Age".
I had many dreams from in my childhood after seeing this movie.
I recommend this movie to anyone who, like me, was born and whose childhood was in that time and place.

The movie is basically a collection of short stories (based on Romanian urban legends from that time)
1. The village welcoming committee
2. The official Scinteia Ceausescu photographer
3. The Christmas pig (this was my favourite)
4. The overzealous literacy activist
5. The bottle collectors
6. The chicken lorry driver

This movie is a link to my childhood.
Romania is a different place now.
The world has moved on.
I am left with nostalgia.
Nostalgia is very powerful.
This movie re-created that long lost world in my mind and I'm very thankful for that, for
bringing back to me those memories, people and stories.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 7 reviews  4.1 out of 5 stars