Medal of Honor

Colour, 35 mm
Romania, Germany, 2009, 105 min
Section: Variety Critics’ Choice

Synopsis

Six years after his impressive feature debut Maria, Romanian-born, German-raised helmer Calin Peter Netzer returns with a riff on his native country’s post-Ceausescu woes. Buoyed by strong lead performances, drily humorous Medal of Honor becomes thoroughly engaging as the ironies mount. It’s December 1995 and the heating still isn’t working in the apartment that the comically named Ion I. Ion shares with his wife, Nina. Ion plugs on with his life, despite the fact that both Nina and their grown son haven’t spoken to him in six years. Everything changes when Ion gets a letter that he’ll be awarded a commemorative medal to celebrate the 50th anni of the end of WWII. But when he tries to find out what the medal is for, the Veterans’ Assn. says it’s nothing to do with them and the Ministry of Defense says he has to submit a request in writing.