THE UPRISING (1965) – drama film online

Directed by: Mircea Mureșan
Script: Mircea Mureșan, Petre Sălcudeanu, Liviu Rebreanu (novel)
Cast: Ilarion Ciobanu, Nicolae Secăreanu, Emil Botta, Ion Besoiu, Constantin Codrescu, Ana Felicia Chiriță, George Aurelian, Gheorghe Trestian, Val Săndulescu, Sandu Sticlaru, Ernest Maftei, Colea Răutu, Ștefan Mihăilescu-Brăila, Amza Pellea, Marga Anghelescu, Cristina Tacoi, Gheorghe Cozorici, Constantin Lungeanu
Producer: Nicolae Codrescu
Cinematography by: Nicu Stan
Edited by: Eugenia Gorovei
Sound: Anușavan Salamanian
Music: Tiberiu Olah
Year: 1965
Category: Feature film
Genre: Drama
Duration: 93 minutes

151,417 – Cinepub viewers

PLOT SUMMARY

Through the character of Petre Petre (Ilarion Ciobanu), a peasant and the main hero of Liviu Rebreanu’s famous novel, the events of the 1907 uprising are recounted, from its outbreak to its suppression.

AWARDS:

• 1966 – Cannes Film Festival – “Opera prima” award for debut
• 1966 – Mamaia National Film Festival – Award for Best Director
• 1966 – Mamaia National Film Festival – Award for Best Music
• 1966 – Mamaia National Film Festival – Award for Best Actor (Ilarion Ciobanu)

FESTIVALS:

• 1966 – Cannes International Film Festival – Nomination for the Palme d’Or

CRITICAL REVIEWS:

“Ilarion Ciobanu embodies Petre, mature and serious, completely in control of himself, with a steady gaze and measured movements, as if he were molded from clay and stone.” – Mircea Muresan, “Contemporanul” Magazine

“Grigore arrives at his father’s mansion in Amara, accompanied by the liberal lawyer Baloleanu, in a climate of turmoil, violence, and barely contained anger. While Christmas is being celebrated at the mansion, the peasants demand land. The landowner responds with a gun, and the crowd kills him on the spot and sets fire to the mansion. Baloleanu personally leads the repression, forgetting his liberalism.” – Tudor Caranfil, “Universal Film Dictionary”

“I see the naked body of Nadina, played by Adriana Bogdan, running across a field in the rape scene, superbly filmed by cameraman Nicu Stan. Her breasts were visible, and she was then filmed from behind, a splendid body, an amphora-like silhouette. It was a very daring image, I think it was the first and last of such boldness.” – Manuela Cernat, “Gândul” Magazine

“The film largely follows the narrative thread of the novel, without covering all its ramifications or fully exploring its depths, sometimes resorting to simplistic symbolism, such as moving the scene of Nadina’s (Adriana Nicolescu) rape by Petre Petre (Ilarion Ciobanu) from the bedroom of the mansion to the field, illustrating the peasant’s desire, his unbridled passion for the land, identifiable with the possession of a woman — which denotes a certain uncertainty in the treatment of the vast epic material, hesitations that are not foreign to screenwriter Petre Sălcudeanu, who is also at the beginning of his career.” – Ioan-Pavel Azap, “Tribuna Magazine”

“Rebeanu’s novel does not emerge from this adaptation for the big screen. It was a relatively prosperous period, when the Ceaușescu period had not yet entered into a state of panic. Perhaps this is why the spirit of the prose is not altered by ideology, apart from the natural, so to speak, implicit ideology of the literary text. The film adaptation thus remains faithful to the disturbing Romanian novel […] the director has managed to bring to the screen the equidistant tone derived from Rebreanu’s work. – Ioana Lazăr, “Benchmark films of Romanian cinema (1987-2008)”, Bucharest, Ed. Felix Film, 2009

“While perhaps less symptomatic of its director than “Eruption” is for Liviu Ciulei (which I wrote about here), “The Uprising” still bears the marks of an engaged filmmaker who leaves his imprint in various ways on the film. That this author would later distance himself more and more from his own productions, letting trivial action overtake the screen, is another story altogether.” – Emil Vasilache, cinepub.ro

TRIVIA:

• The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Liviu Rebreanu, considered the “first screenwriter of Romanian cinema”.
• Rebreanu is one of the most filmed Romanian writers. After “Ciuleandra” (1930, dir. Martin Berger), came “The Forest of the Hanged” (1965, dir. Liviu Ciulei), “The Uprising” (1966, dir. Mircea Mureșan), “Ion, the Lust for Love” (1980, dir. Mircea Mureșan) and Sergiu Nicolaescu’s adaptation of the novel “Ciuleandra” (1985).
• Filming took place between November 28, 1964, and May 19, 1965, with exteriors shot in Ciocănești, Sterianu, Mogoșoaia, Corbeanca, and Cornești, and interiors shot in Buftea.
• One of the greatest challenges for the director was finding the right actress to play the noblewoman Nadina. “Numerous photo shoots were done with actresses. None of them were convincing. Some were too short, some lacked aristocratic distinction, some were frumpy, some were stiff… By chance, one evening, in a “coffee shop” circle I had joined, the conversation turned to the film “The Uprising” and my search. Eugen Schileru, the renowned essayist who taught art history, said to me, “You should see one of my students!” The next day, he arrived arm in arm with a young woman who left us all speechless. Tall and slender, she exuded elegance and good taste. Her name was Adriana Nicolescu. We prepared her for the screen tests, which went very well, and the whole team was very pleased with this choice.” (Mircea Mureșan)
• One of the memorable scenes in the novel, in which the rebellious peasant Petre Petre rapes the noblewoman Nadina, was transposed onto film in an extremely bold and provocative manner, resulting in a unique moment in the history of Romanian cinema before 1989. In order to keep the scene intact, director Mircea Mureşan resorted to a clever strategy: “After the death of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Paul Cornea was dismissed from his position and replaced by Eugen Mandric. A good guy. In September 1965, when the film was ready, he was invited to see it and give his approval for the standard copy. He liked it, congratulated everyone, but called me into his office: “Mircea, you have to remove one shot…”/ “What’s got into you, what should I take out?!”/ “The rape scene, the shot with the knee.” He was referring to a close-up of Petre spreading Nadina’s beautiful, bare knees and sliding his knee between them, his trousers in tatters. “What’s wrong with that shot? It’s very expressive.”/ “No! It’s violent! It degrades the character of Petre…”/ “Jenică, are you stupid?! I’m not taking out a frame like that.”/ “Then you won’t get the standard copy approval.” I had no choice, I re-edited the film and called him to check it. But after he left, I asked the editor to put it back. After the film was released, Mandric took me aside: “You screwed me over! You owe me a drink!”
• The story is confirmed by editor Maria Neagu, who remembers that it was the first film in which she worked against censorship: “The close-up was removed by the censors because of its erotic content and violence. The negative was edited without the incriminating detail, leaving the previous and subsequent images intact. The technical copies and the premiere copy were made. Director Mircea Mureşan trusted me and asked me to do the technical work, namely to restore the detail that had been preserved in length, and to monitor its execution in the negative at the laboratory. After the film returned from Cannes with an award, no one investigated us, no one tried to remember the “rape scene” that had been removed from the premiere copy and appeared in the print run. It was the first trick we did, at the director’s request. Others followed.”
• The film was screened at the Cannes International Film Festival under a different name: “L’hiver en flammes.” In fact, the director found out about the nomination by chance. “At that time, foreign newspapers were still being delivered to the Athénée Palace, a few days late. I had become friends with the lady at the reception desk, who would slip me one under the counter. And one day, I came across a copy of “Le Monde” newspaper, which had a short column called “News from Cannes”. It said that the Romanian film “L’hiver en flammes” had been selected for the official competition. What film could that be, “Winter in Flames”, I wondered. I went to Buftea to see Eugen Mandric and asked him. He said, “It’s your film, you idiot, but that smart guy Mihnea Gheorghiu (editor’s note: president of the Cinematography Council at the time) changed the title, saying it was more commercial that way”. It was all a setup there in France. Although it was the favorite of the jury chaired by Sophia Loren, a Romanian film couldn’t win the Palme d’Or, especially at the 20th anniversary edition of the festival. But we couldn’t leave empty-handed either. So Mihnea Gheorghiu made an arrangement with the festival director, Favre Le Bret, telling him that it was my first film. I corrected his lie at the press conference, which was also reported in the foreign newspapers. He had no idea that I spoke French as well as he did. He introduced me as a 25-year-old making his first film, when I was actually 38. He called himself a minister to make himself look important. He had arranged with Dan Deşliu, who called him from another hotel while we were all having breakfast. And they called him to answer through the restaurant’s loudspeaker: “Monsieur le ministre Mihnea Gheorghiu est appelé au téléphone” (editor’s note: “The minister is wanted on the phone”). Anyway, he was a ridiculous guy!” said the director.
• In the initial cut of the film, Lica Gheorghiu (daughter of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej) was cast in a minor role, but the scenes featuring her were cut after the leader’s death.

LINES:

• “People’s land… You see, that’s the peasant problem. There isn’t much land.” – Grigore Iuga (Ion Besoiu)
• “It’s no joke. When peasants gather in large numbers to steal, it’s no joke.” – Miron Iuga (Nicolae Secăreanu)
• “You’re angry with me because I’m sick. What’s my fault, Petre? Tomorrow I’ll get up and go to work.” – Petre’s mother (Marga Angelescu)
• “You talk like a sentimental woman with a higher education in Leipzig. The old, honest ways are good.” – Miron Iuga (Nicolae Secăreanu)
• “The peasant question cannot be resolved without sacrifices. The peasant wants land. That’s all he knows, and that’s what hurts him.” – Lawyer Alexandru Baloleanu (Constantin Codrescu)
• “I told you I’m not selling. And if I do sell, I want money, and you don’t have any.” – Nadina (Adriana Nicolescu)
• “The government is unable to resolve the peasant issue. Unrest is sweeping across the country. And instead of taking effective measures, the government is reducing gasoline taxes.” – Lawyer Alexandru Baloleanu (Constantin Codrescu)
• “Only agrarian reform can calm the peasants. The land must be given to the peasants!” – Lawyer Alexandru Baloleanu (Constantin Codrescu)
• “We will take up the axe ourselves…!” – Peasant Serafim (Matei Alexandru)
• “I will not beg anyone. And when you beg me, I will not be swayed.” – Miron Iuga (Nicolae Secăreanu)
• “Bucharest is terrified by what is happening in Moldavia. Not only have they set fire to mansions, they have also killed several tenant farmers.” – Grigore Iuga (Ion Besoiu)
• “The country is burning and you’re out buying land!” – Miron Iuga (Nicolae Secăreanu)
• “Let me defend my land. That’s my duty as long as I live.” – Miron Iuga (Nicolae Secăreanu)
• “I saw it with my own eyes! All the mansions – on the orders of the prince! They’ve been burned, man!” – The Madman (Emil Botta)
• “May God forgive you, mother.” – Petre Petre (Ilarion Ciobanu)
• “My dear ones, we are living through the most terrible tragedy in the history of the Romanian people.” – Lawyer Alexandru Baloleanu (Constantin Codrescu)
• “When the peasants have risen up to fight for their land, they will not be satisfied with platonic reforms.” – Grigore Iuga (Ion Besoiu)
• “I am filled with dread when I think that these peasants could one day be organized.” – Grigore Iuga (Ion Besoiu)
• “Why did you rise up against the boyars? Did you think the boyars would sit idly by and let us take their land?” – Petre Petre (Ilarion Ciobanu)
• “A scythe, an axe, a pitchfork, anything!” – Petre Petre (Ilarion Ciobanu)
• “There is no such thing as free land. You either pay for it with money or with something else. There is no such thing as free land.” – Petre Petre (Ilarion Ciobanu)
• “People must know the truth!” – The Madman (Emil Botta)

ARTICLES:

• Romanian theater and films: “The Uprising” (1966) – agerpres.ro
• How the rape scene in the film “The Uprising” escaped censorship – adevarul.ro
• “The Uprising”, the film with explicit nudity from the communist period from which Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej’s daughter was removed – descopera.ro
• “The Uprising” – tribuna-magazine.com
• A fan of film adaptations: Mircea Mureșan – revistacultura.ro
• Director Mircea Mureșan died on Friday at the age of 91 – agerpres.ro

This premiere is part of a national archive project supported by the Romanian National Film Centre.
Special thanks goes to the Romanian Filmmakers Union and to the Romanian Film Archive.

WATCH OTHER MOVIES