THE MOMENT OF TRUTH (1989) – historic film online

Directed by: Andrei Blaier
Script: Titus Popovici
Cast: Adrian Păduraru, Ilinca Goia, Alexandru Repan, Mircea Albulescu, Dorina Lazăr, Irina Petrescu, Dorin Varga, Karoly Sinka, Valentin Uritescu, Constantin Diplan, Eusebiu Ștefănescu, Gheorghe Dinică, Bela Buzogany, Anatol Serghiev, Flavius Constantinescu, Ernest Maftei, Teodor Danetti
Producer: Dumitru Fernoagă
Cinematography by: Doru Mitran, Gabriel Kosuth
Edited by: Victorița Nae
Sound: Mihai Orășanu
Music: Anatol Vieru
Year: 1989
Category: Feature film
Genre: Drama, History
Duration: 180 minutes

54,212 – Cinepub viewers

PLOT SUMMARY

“The Moment of Truth” was finished only a few months before the 1989 Revolution and ran for only one week, being stopped by the communist censors. The movie places the action in the troubled moments of Romanian history that happily culminate in the Great Union of Alba Iulia. The main character is Iuliu Maniu, one of the greatest politicians in Romanian history.

AWARDS:

• 1990 – Costinești – Music and Editing Awards
• 1991 – UCIN – Special Interpretation Award (Valentin Uritescu)

TRIVIA:

• Andrei Blaier said: “Look, now that I remember ’89, I remember that the only movie about the Great Union that was made in Romania, I made it. And I’m amazed now that years have gone by and I’m still the only one who had the pleasure of talking about the Great Union. (…) It’s a movie that I love very much and in which I support the friendship between Hungarians and Romanians. I never had anything against Hungarians. How could I have such a thing when a piece of me is Hungarian: from my mother and one of my wives.” – cuzanet.ro
• When asked “are you proud to be Romanian?”, the director answered: “I’m dying for this country. I feel it’s a country with people with whom I feel great wherever I move. I love Romania, sir! I can’t hide from you that everywhere in the world I have been courted, to go, to stay. Everywhere. (…) And I didn’t do that. I always wanted to come back home, here in Romania. It never crossed my mind not to go back home. One of my best friends was Nichita Stănescu. He came here to me as if he were at home. You can’t live without poetry, without these marvels of people.” – cuzanet.ro
• Blaier said about actor Gheorghe Dinică: “In order to be able to win, to catch a devil like Gheorghe Dinică, because I love Dinică to death and I hope he loves me too, I have always offered him another chance, another activity. If you want to work with an actor and earn him just like that for pocket money, you tell him. You can’t earn Dinică that way. He is so honest with his profession and with himself that if you don’t offer Dinică a role that really interests him, he will never accept it. He’s too good a friend of mine not to know him, and I’m sure that’s what I’m saying.” – cuzanet.ro

LINES:

“With a red ribbon! But what do you think, that the count is a socialist like you?” – Ilonka’s mother (Dorina Lazăr)

“Do you know the fear (…) of words? If we don’t believe in them, others come and take those we don’t love enough.” – Mrs. David (Irina Petrescu)

“We must be loyal.” – Emil Severus (Alexandru Repan)

“The National Party and I myself will consider as traitors to our nation all those who allow themselves to be carried away by untimely impulses.” – Emil Severus (Alexandru Repan)

“Remus, you are the only thing that keeps me tied to this life. You and the jag-like struggle to keep a Romanian sheet alive in headwinds.” – Professor David

“As long as old Carol lives, Romania can be neutral at best. But after that…” – Count (Mircea Albulescu)

” We’ve given the peasants too many rights.” – Count (Mircea Albulescu)

“I found cherries at the market today. They’re not expensive. You wouldn’t think we were at war.” – Ilonka’s mother (Dorina Lazăr)

“Mr. Professor and editor, from today on, we, the police, will watch over the accuracy of the articles appearing in the newspaper «Ardealul».” – Mr. Burducea (Constantin Diplan)

“I draw your attention to the fact that not only the slightest subversive allusion will lead to the banning of the newspaper and very serious penalties, but above all to lack of enthusiasm. Every thought must teem with devotion to His Majesty, our adored monarch.” – Mr. Burducea (Constantin Diplan)

“I am a civil servant, Mr. David. Money is my politics.” – Mr. Burducea (Constanin Diplan)

“We can move to the Republic of Moldova. I have an uncle, a great poacher. He knows the mountains like the back of his hand and he’ll get us through.” – Professor David

“Engels teaches us that the family should not be bourgeois.” – The Shoemaker Szabo

“In communism we will no longer need money. We no longer need money. Long live Comrades Trotsky and Lenin!” – Shoemaker Szabo

“Self determination.” – Emil Severus (Alexander Repan)

“Am I crazy or those who, after an unhappy historical experience, can still believe that by loyalty to a rotten empire they will obtain their natural rights?” – Remus (Adrian Păduraru)

“This war is forcing mankind to realize the principle that in the future there will be no more distinctions between nations. That great and small nations will have equal rights.” – Emil Severus (Alexander Repan)

“How painful it was for us Romanians in Transylvania to be considered a tolerated nation!” – Emil Severus (Alexandru Repan)

“Write, children, write!” – Professor David

“Thank you for listening to me and not dying.” – Ilonka (Ilinca Goia)

“We all owe a death.” – Emil Severus (Alexandru Repan)

“The Romanian National Council does not recognize the right of the Hungarian state to rule and administer the territory of Transylvania.” – Emil Severus (Alexandru Repan)

“The Romanian nation claims its full independence and does not admit that this right should be obscured by provisional arrangements which are planned to last.” – Emil Severus (Alexandru Repan)

“You men never know what to do in these situations. Not when someone is born, nor when they die. You only know how to hate.” – Ilonka (Ilinca Goia)

ARTICLES:

• Andrei Blaier: “Every movie I make is a lawsuit against me” – cuzanet.ro
• The Great Union and Romanian cinema. Films that went down in history – evz.ro
• “Behind the scenes of cinematography”. How the secret police agency recruited director Andrei Blaier to unmask the “enemy elements” in Buftea – adevarul.ro
• Andrei Blaier: Sparks and flames 1. – istoriafilmului.ro
• Andrei Blaier: Sparks and flames 2. – istoriafilmului.ro

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