TO KILL A BIRD OF PREY (1983) – drama film online

Directed by: Iosif Demian
Script: Petre Sălcudeanu
Cast: George Negoescu, Dorel Vișan, Ioana Bulcă, Petre Simionescu, Camelia Zorlescu
Producer: Cornel Cristian
Cinematography by: Alexandru David
Edited by: Floarea Dinu, Anca Mustață
Sound: Vasile Luca
Music: Erika Józsa, Károly Horváth
Year: 1983
Category: Feature film
Genre: Drama, Crime
Duration: 103 minutes

46,948 – Cinepub viewers

PLOT SUMMARY

During the autopsy of a girl presumed to have died in an accident, it is discovered that the victim had been dead long before the crash occurred. Taking over the case, “Grandfather” and his assistant, Panaitescu, uncover that the person behind the staged accident is being blackmailed by individuals looking to profit.

AWARDS

• 1983 – Costinești Film Festival – Directory Award (Iosif Demian)
• 1983 – Costinești Film Festival – Honorific Diploma by(Vasile Luca)

CRITICAL REVIEWS:

“A story (a policier, as one presenter tried to define it — as opposed to crime film, as if the French-sounding neologism defines a different artistic genre!) — with pursued and pursuers, fits into a genre with strict rules. No matter how you guide the narrative, when it starts from the premise of a crime and follows the uncovering of those who committed it, the conditions and extent of the acts, gathering of evidence and identification of culprits, the storyteller is obligated to play the game within the boundaries of the genre: that is, to resolve the situations (with talent helping make this more spectacular, captivating, and convincing) and ultimately to provide satisfaction to the viewer, whose moral instinct and legitimate curiosity as a spectator demand that wrongdoings be punished. That is the happy ending in crime films — or genre films, if we prefer to avoid the label.” – Mircea Alexandrescu, Cinema Magazine no. 11, November 1983

“It’s true that instead of an action told in a captivating and spectacular manner, the filmmaker seems to have preferred the exercise of sketching a few portraits.” – Mircea Alexandrescu, Cinema Magazine no. 11, November 1983

“A crime film? No, because the intention seems to be to transgress and shatter all the rules of the genre. Not a crime film, but an anti-crime film — not within the boundaries of the genre, but against them. Fine, but this act of dismantling doesn’t lead to a new genre, only to the chaotic disintegration of an already established universe. If you don’t want to work within a genre, why not choose another? Or, if you want to create a new one, then the genre you’re trying to establish must be definable, and the story told in this new manner must be followable, understandable.” – Mircea Alexandrescu, Cinema Magazine no. 11, November 1983

“A constant in Demian’s entire body of work is this tendency to construct communities that — no matter how schematic or unpromising the script might seem at first glance (as is also the case with the two texts written by Sălcudeanu) — ultimately relativize and blur the notion of a so-called ‘single truth’ and, especially, of a so-called ‘reality.” – Andrei Rus, cinepub.ro

“For director Iosif Demian, people — with all their paradoxes and idiosyncrasies — matter more than the functions they serve within the economy of cinematic convention. Although his stylistic partisanship is always coherent, pronounced, and on display in his films, the characters push against the inherent limitations of clearly structured constructions, waging continuous battles between spontaneity/unpredictability and articulation/premeditation.” – Andrei Rus, cinepub.ro

• “I won’t rush, not until I get the chance to see it projected in a proper cinema, to firmly and unequivocally declare that To Kill a Bird of Prey is one of the most iconoclastic and unclassifiable Romanian films I’ve seen so far. But I’m almost certain of it.” – Andrei Rus, cinepub.ro

TRIVIA:

• The film is Iosif Demian’s adaptation of the novel “Grandfather and a Poor Sense of Honor” (“Bunicul și o biată cinste”) by Petru Sălcudeanu.
• The director made this production before leaving Romania in 1985 for Australia, where he became head of the Cinematography Department at the Australian Film School.
• About leaving the country, he stated in an interview with film critic Dana Duma for Film Magazine: “I emigrated in 1985, when I no longer had much chance of making films. I had found out two years earlier that I was on a ‘blacklist,’ so I chose the risk of leaving. On top of that, my wife, Erika, no longer had her Hungarian-language TV show – she’d been moved to radio, where the outlook was no better, and they were being subtly advised to look for other jobs. I knew that among those who had left, Radu Gabrea had managed to succeed, but Mihai Iacob and Dan Nuțu hadn’t. Neither had Veroiu, in Paris — he was teaching at a youth audiovisual workshop, not making films. I knew that no open doors awaited me abroad, and I didn’t leave thinking I’d continue my career. What made it bearable was that I had Erika with me, and we were starting over together. But I was lucky — and we were warmly received in Australia.” – I.D.)
• The film was seen by 1,191,333 viewers in Romanian cinemas, according to a record compiled by the National Center of Cinematography showing attendance figures for Romanian films from their release date up to December 31, 2014.
• Among the films directed by Iosif Demian, you can watch the feature films “Night Patrol” (2022), “Rainbow Bubbles” (1982), “A Girl’s Tear” (1980), and the documentary “Stone Memory” (2010) on cinepub.ro.

LINES:

• “I wanted to save her…” – Dr. Dimitriu (Petre Simionescu)
• “The person responsible for the accident is a surgeon by profession. He tried to save the girl by taking her to the hospital. He also notified the militia.”- Alexiu (Dorin Dron)
• “I wish this case would turn into something thrilling.” – Grandpa (George Negoescu)
• “One of us takes care of the victim, the other of the perpetrator.” – Panaitescu (Dorel Vișan)
• “Our whole family was cursed. Only one of us died a natural death.” – Vasilică Tulcea, Camelia’s aunt
• “The one who killed her — if I ask for 10,000 lei in compensation, will he pay me? I’d sign up for a two-room apartment.” – Vasilică Tulcea, Camelia’s aunt (Ioana Bulcă)
• “She seemed like a good girl.” – Grandpa (George Negoescu)

• “I’m a woman too. That night, a friend was supposed to come over. I sent her to sleep at one of my clients’ place.” – Vasilică Tulcea, Camelia’s aunt (Ioana Bulcă)
• “Listen, lady! I’ll turn you over to the militia!” – Dr. Dimitriu (Petre Simionescu)
• “A man going to a woman — that’s acceptable. But when several women go to the same man, that’s immoral.” – Gheorghiță Fodor (Radu Ițcuș)
• “Why did you come to me if you knew you were being followed?” – Gheorghiță Fodor (Radu Ițcuș)
• “I have serious doubts that you’re the one who killed that girl.” – Dr. Dimitriu (Petre Simionescu)
• “I could’ve avoided the accident if that girl hadn’t been so determined to die.” – Grandpa (George Negoescu)
• “Fodor told me he wouldn’t marry me without 100,000.” – Vasilică Tulcea, Camelia’s aunt (Ioana Bulcă)

ARTICLES:

• “To Kill a Bird of Prey” by Iosif Demian, at Cineclub Film – aarc.ro
• “To Kill a Bird of Prey” – Film Review – aarc.ro
• “To Kill a Bird of Prey” – tvr.ro
• “Behind the Scenes of Cinema”: How director Iosif Demian ended up at Cannes wearing a tuxedo “riddled” with bullets from Commissioner Miclovan – adevarul.ro
• Iosif Demian – istoriafilmuluiromanesc.ro
• TIFF 2017. Iosif Demian: “There should be movie theaters everywhere — even in train stations” – pressone.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.

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