Synopsis
An incursion into an epoch deeply troubled, ravaged by war and suffering, yet against the backdrop of which had emerged the heralding lights of other times.
Directed by: Sergiu Nicolăescu
Cast: Ilarion Ciobanu, Alexandru Dobrescu, Sergiu Nicolăescu, Gheorghe Dinică, George Constantin, Ștefan Mihăilescu-Brăila, Sebastian Papaiani, Aimee Iacobescu
Script: Titus Popovici, Petre Sălcudeanu
Producers: Gheorghe Pîrîu, Ion Schihar, Vinicius Stinghe
Cinematography by: Alexandru David
Edited by: Yolanda Mîntulescu
Sound: Anusavan Salamanian
Muzică: Richard Oschanitzky
Year: 1972
Category: feature film
Genre: Action
Duration: 95 minutes
330,277 – Cinepub viewers
PLOT SUMMARY
The Commissioner Roman (Ilarion Ciobanu) and his colleague, Miclovan (Sergiu Nicolaescu), are forced to fight against organized crime that emerged in Bucharest after the war. Roman’s strict methods are often complemented by Miclovan’s unorthodox ones. All they want is to end up with clean hands in the end.
CRITICAL REVIEWS
“With its prestige deflated… the Securitate needed the reshaping of its myth. This role was to be fulfilled… by movies featuring gangsters and political policemen heroes… with preliminary box office success and assured manipulative function.” (Bujor T. Ripeanu)
“With Unstained Hands and The Last Bullet: ‘… I consider both films a fresco or perhaps a part of a larger fresco about a very dynamic and significant period in the life of our society, the period immediately following the war. I want to specify from the outset that I consider these two films as social films, largely transposed into a detective film formula.” (Sergiu Nicolaescu)
AWARDS
- 1972 – ACIN – Award for Male Performance (Gheorghe Dinică)
TRIVIA
“The screenplay is part of a package with three others, intended to be produced in the following months, in parallel, by directors S. Nicolaescu, M. Marcus, and I. Mihu. With its prestige tarnished after the disclosure – even if partial – of its complicity in the abuses during the ‘cult of personality’ period, the Securitate needed a makeover of its myth. This function was supposed to be fulfilled, in the official propaganda’s vision, by movies featuring gangsters and police avengers, desired differently by filmmakers, absent from screens and from the film imports, with preliminary box office success and an ensured manipulative function. Most of the films in this series, as well as the present one, are made in collaboration with the Ministry of Internal Affairs.” (Bujor T. Rîpeanu, “Filmed in Romania”)
“The film has a sustained pace, it’s as tough as the era and its people, raw and bloody, because the era itself was bloody (however, there’s an abuse of bursts and bullets in the film), containing moments of intense drama. Certain sources of inspiration from the director’s repertoire (from some good foreign films belonging to the detective genre) can be easily detected, but the adaptations are well assimilated and organically integrated into this film.” (Călin Căliman)
“I notice a certain similarity between Nicolaescu’s role and that of Hackman in the highly successful film French Connection, where also the detective goes passionately all out. The difference is that this one is obsessive, almost manic, whereas the other is serene and cold, his passion being aesthetic and icy. And then French Connection is just a magnificent, spectacular chase, whereas the Romanian film is full of deep-seated issues, embroidered both on the past and the future.” (D.I. Suchianu)
LINES
Miclovan: “A trifle… they shot me”
Lăscărică: “Don’t shoot Mr. Semaca! It’s me, Lăscărică!”
ARTICLES
- With Clean Hands (With Unstained Hands) (1972) – Bogdan JITEA – 2022 – iiccmer.ro
- With Clean Hands (With Unstained Hands) – film chronicle – Mircea Alexandrescu – 1972 – aarc.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.