TOO LITTLE FOR SUCH A BIG WAR (1970) – war film online

Directed by: Radu Gabrea
Script: Dumitru Radu Popescu, Aurel Petri (idea)
Cast: Mihai Filip, Mircea Albulescu, Gheorghe Cozorici, Jean Constantin, Gheorghe Dinică, Ernest Maftei, Dan Nuțu, Ileana Popovici, Ștefan Radof, Liviu Rozorea, Ovidiu Schumacher, Nikolaus Wolcz, Petre Gheorghiu-Goe, Costel Iordache, Gelu Manolache, Florin Măcelaru, Simion Negrilă, Rudy Rosenfeld, Aristice Teica
Producer: Toma Constantin, Vasilica Istrate
Cinematography by: Dinu Tănase
Edited by: Margareta Anescu
Sound: Oscar Coman
Music: Corneliu Cezar
Year: 1970
Category: Feature film
Genre: War, drama
Duration: 77 minutes

21,136 – Cinepub viewers

PLOT SUMMARY

Inspired by true events, the film is about friendship and coming of age in a dramatic wartime context. An orphaned boy raised by the regiment goes to the front in search of his best friend and faces terrifying experiences.

AWARDS:

• 1971 – Locarno Film Festival – Jury Prize

CRITICAL REVIEWS:

“Respecting the proportions, this movie meant, for the history of Romanian cinema, about what Andrei Tarkovski’s”Ivan’s Childhood”meant, seven or eight years ago, for the history of Russian cinema. Based on a screenplay by D.R. Popescu, the film brings to the forefront the story of a child, Michael (played by Mihai Filip), confronted with the harsh, often tragic realities of war. Ultimately, the movie is a poem of a childhood sacrificed because of the war, a poem of a childhood sacrificed because of the war, told in expressive images (thanks to cinematographer Dinu Tănase), with the help of top actors such as Mircea Albulescu (The mustachioed soldier), Ernest Maftei (the grizzled soldier), Gheorghe Cozorici (the lieutenant), Jean Constantin (the young man), Gheorghe Dinică (the veteran platoon leader), Ștefan Radof (the cook), Dan Nuțu (the dark-haired man), Ileana Popovici (the schoolteacher), Ovidiu Schumacher (the cheerful soldier), Liviu Rozorea (the Neamțul), Nicolae Wolcz (the clown). “ – Călin Căliman

“‘Too Small’ is a kind of road movie, a movie concerned with the accumulation of energy that results from the crossing of human beings from one space to another, from one conjuncture to another. Let the story, in its most basic sense, be composed and experienced; not delivered in a smooth wrapper.” – Emil Vasilache, cinepub.ro

“The difference between child and adult in the context of war is a thin one. The privilege of being the youngest of the “gang” brings him a special status, but it also brings him into the direct proximity of death, from which he escapes most often on the edge. His membership is ephemeral and, despite giving him a shell-identity, does not support the creation of his own identity. In other words, the coming-of-age is not fulfilled, because the boy’s odyssey seems like it could go on forever. As long as he lives, death will be all around him.” – Emil Vasilache, cinepub.ro

“Gabrea makes use of inserts from archival footage from the front to augment the fictional frame, but also of stylistic fractures through which he breaks the convention of the movie at times. At certain moments, for example, the camera switches to a fisheye lens, which in combination with the shaky hand-held footage, makes the shots uncannily subjectivized and gives them a starkly strange dimension. Or, as in the moments of the death of the two soldiers played by Albulescu and Nuțu, we have shifts to sequences that illustrate the child’s fantasy, happy endings projected in his mind: in the first, Albulescu’s soldier returns from the front with his chest strewn with medals, waving to an ecstatic crowd. In the second, Nuțu’s character, dressed in costume, walks along a parked train, from which brides, including his fiancée, get off one by one.” – Emil Vasilache, cinepub.ro

TRIVIA:

• “Too small for such a big war” is Radu Gabrea’s movie debut.
• The film has been seen by 975,874 moviegoers in Romanian cinemas, according to a survey of the number of spectators registered by Romanian films from the date of its premiere until December 31, 2014 compiled by the National Center of Cinematography.
• The story of Michael, the child who goes off to war, is inspired by the true story of Marin Lungu (Marinică) – born in Dobrogea and raised on the front. He joined the army at the age of seven and participated in over 20 missions behind the enemy front. “I became a troop boy at the age of seven. The Germans were in the hills of Medgidia and on this side were our troops, the 40th Infantry Regiment. The Germans didn’t suspect that I was going to tell the Romanians about all the equipment”. (Marin Lungu). More on his story here: tvrinfo.ro
• The director Radu Bartolomeu Gabrea (b. June 20, 1937, Bucharest, Romania – d. February 9, 2017) lived in Germany (being a native German speaker) between 1974 and 1997. He was associate professor of directing and editing at the Academy of Theater and Film in Bucharest and film critic for several newspapers. He has directed over 25 art and documentary films in a career spanning more than 45 years, tackling after his return to Romania lesser known or “systematically distorted” historical subjects, which in his opinion need to be demystified through documentary research. His films often touch on the theme of the Jewish, Saxon or Swabian minorities in different periods of the last century.
• In 2002, the director was awarded the National Order “Serviciul Credincios” (Faithful Service) in the rank of Knight by the Romanian President.
• Radu Gabrea passed away on Thursday, February 9, 2017. The coffin was laid at the Nottara Theatre for a last tribute, then the funeral with military honors took place at the Orthodox Bellu Cemetery in Bucharest.

LINES:

• “What are you doing here? Is this a playground? I’ll rip your ears off!” – The veteran plutonier (Gheorghe Dinică)
• “Move, move! Come on, or I’ll cut you all! – The veteran plutonier (Gheorghe Dinică)
• “Stand up! Get down! Stand up! Get down!” – The veteran plutonier (Gheorghe Dinică)
• “I must find my folks. I haven’t seen them for a year and a half. Since I took refuge.” – The Brunet (Dan Nuțu)
• “I see my fiancée and then I leave. Back to the front.” – The Brunet (Dan Nuțu)
• “When I went to see her, she asked me why I came, that she loves someone else. I laughed. She laughed too. I said she was joking.” – The mustachioed soldier (Mircea Albulescu)
• “He’s a bit sadistic, he talks to himself.” – “The veteran plutonier” (Gheorghe Dinică)
• “Everyone knew I wasn’t coming back. They had a feeling, but said nothing.” – The mustachioed soldier (Mircea Albulescu)
• “They were doing my alms while I was alive.” – The mustachioed soldier (Mircea Albulescu)
• “It’s been many days of war and hard fighting/ Since I left home to defend my country./ I fought with gun in hand, crossing mountains, crossing the Carpathians.” – The Chef (Ștefan Radof)
• “I’d take a bath!” – The Merry Soldier (Ovidiu Schumacher)

ARTICLES:

• Too small for such a big war (1970) – istoriafilmuluiromanesc.ro
• Too small for such a big war – a movie by Radu Gabrea – ceff.ro
• The story of a Dobrogean hero – Marin Lungu, too small for such a big war – bogdanbola.ro
• Heroes of War, a TVR campaign: the story of Marin Lungu, the youngest corporal in the Romanian army. At 9, he was captured in Czechoslovakia while spying on a German munitions depot – tvrinfo.ro
• Radu Gabrea: Stefan Radof’s death is a huge loss for Romanian theater – mediafax.ro
• Today about Radu Gabrea – “Too Small for Such a Big War”, the 1970 Locarno Film Festival award-winning debut film. – ziaruldevrancea.ro
• Marin Lungu, too small for such a big war – cotidianul.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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