We continue to shift the paradigm in the conversation about cinema. Based on our philosophy, we keep the habit of advocating and looking specifically towards the alternative and, above all, towards independence – two of our fundamental concepts. We’re not a bunch of axiologists. We don’t impose, we just propose: last week we presented you Augustin Cupșa; today, Elena Călinoiu, the most recent (and youngest) member of our editorial team.

Elena is a screenwriter with a bachelor’s and master’s degree at UNATC ”I.L. Caragiale”, in Bucharest. She writes intimate and personal screenplays about young adulthood. She is a fine observer and creates vibrant characters that the readers could recognize or resemble with ordinary people in real situations. Her filmed stories are psychological dramas, wrapped in comedy with the accent on the absurdity of various societal norms.

She is passionate about theater too, she started a festival in Focșani, Romania and assembled two award-winning theater groups.

In her film essays, Elena likes to analyse the characters and their relationship with the environment. Emphasizing on the psycho-social aspects, she puts an X-ray not only on the character, but on the entire world created in the movie.

Today, Elena covers ”Through the Ashes of the Empire”, an old movie that has been carefully dusted and put back on the shelf in a new light, with her radiant youth and solar spirit. We hope you like the film and Elena’s commentary as much as we did.

Welcome to Cinepub, Elena!

(Lucian Georgescu, cinepub.ro)

From oblivion – to hope for human compassion

Andrei Blaier is a humanistic director, without being dogmatic or instructive. His profound preoccupations that stem from his love for people have hindered him during Ceaușescu’s regime, because he was often solicited to alter the film to conform to societal norms. He accepted the protocol, but within these formal limitations he expressed himself deeply and fully. At the same time, he carefully followed the mental and emotional processes of the characters.

As Andrei Blaier would say, „movies are magic” and he created magic with his film entitled „Through the Ashes of the Empire” (1976), inspired by the novel „A Gamble with Death” (1962), written by Zaharia Stancu. Although the title could anticipate a dramatic or obscure film, in reality it’s a celebration of life, of altruism and mostly of one of the greatest virtues of the director – friendship, as he said.

A group of romanians haphazardly established by german forces is taken to apparently nowhere via a carrier train, full of sheep and hay (the sequences with the herds of bleating sheep work perfectly for the analogy with the mob of bewildered men). Expecting to arrive at the German border, they soon find out that they’re heading to the Balkans to dig trenches. The film follows a continuous chaos because of the visual crowdedness and eclectic sounds (bombs, gunfires and various languages). However, Blaier meticulously analyses the relation between the alleged Diplomat (Gheorghe Dinică) and The Lame Man (Gabriel Oseciuc), that goes from adversity to fellowship.

The supreme charlatan befriends the young, warm-hearted young man, absorbing him completely and, at the same time, following him, as if he is just learning to take his first steps; but he never confesses that. He ”knows” all about the world. He talks like he invented it. In fact, he knows nothing. He keeps telling The Lame Man slogan after slogan, while the kind hero listens, asks questions, ponders. The relationship between the two changes throughout the movie. Dinică’s character is the lame one, in fact – emotionally lame, and the other is the true diplomat on a metaphysical level. He is dignified, sincere, and candid. He carefully hands a loaf of bread to The Diplomat, who eagerly nibbles it between his black teeth.

The Diplomat (in reality, a gambler and a charlatan) has the chance to see the true colors of the world he is living in. An alchemical transfer of energies between the two leaves room for questions that focus on the exposure of the entirety of the film, such as ”What really matters is life?”.  The Lame Man, with his melancholic observations and the musician of the group (associated with the Jester, always telling the truth) are the only two characters that transcend their present misery. The diplomat doesn’t know what he wants; and The Lame, without great populist speeches or persuasive monologues, persuades him to follow him, looking for the way home. The Diplomat, according to his confident words, was craving for Rome, to chew, through his dusty teeth, frog legs drawn in butter. He adheres, therefore, without even realizing it, to a sincere and bigger purpose, abandoning the superficiality in which he used to swim. And he doesn’t even swim well.

Although there is an abundance of brutish male characters, the film presents women with a benevolent presence. They appear out of nowhere, from the mountains or beautifully filmed waters by Blaier’s friend and director of photography, Dinu Tănase. Women here are dreamy beings, as well as hard working, quiet or speakers of forgein languages (serbian, italian), whose duty is to give a helping hand in an urgent situation.

Andrei Blaier builds a story of the acknowledgment of Good in a seemingly hopeless and critical moment. „Through the Ashes of the Empire” is an ode to true humanity, often hidden by the tough walls of a harsh society. As the director said, the story highly resembles The Ten Comendments. He generates this everything by interweaving scenes from the triumphant imagination of The Lame Man with harsh moments, death, guns, blood and also moments of situational comedy, like the moment whe, while enjoying a dip in the lake, some girls steal the two men’s clothes, leaving the Diplomat his hat only. They amused themselves, as The Lame does at the image of his naked buddy, helpless lying on a rock, shaded by the shabby hat.

As he himself shares, ”Through the Ashes of Empire” is, among other things, a faithful screenization of the Decalogue; an ode to the unseen humanity behind the wall of hardness in a hard-tried social system.
Elena Călinoiu (cinepub.ro)