Film Archive

“I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians”

Official Selection - Competition 2018 / „Îmi este indiferent dacă în istorie vom intra ca barbari” / Romania, Czech Republic, France, Bulgaria, Germany 2018

A young artist is planning to reconstruct a historical event from 1941, during which the Romanian Administration through the Romanian Army carried out an ethnic massacre on the Eastern Front. One of contemporary Europe’s most distinctive creators has come out with an ingeniously conceived film that – although the topic unfolds slowly and in detail – hits the viewer with a singular emotional punch.

“I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians”

Synopsis

In his latest picture, Radu Jude, one of contemporary Europe’s most expressive creators, once again highlights the errors of past generations that are still perniciously plaguing society. This time around he takes up a massacre perpetrated by the Romanian Administration through the Romanian Army on the Eastern Front in 1941, an actual event that a young activist artist decides to stage. This slowly unfolding film, focused on the reconstruction of a ghastly incident, ingeniously updates Hannah Arendt’s incisive work on the banality of evil. Employing an uncompromising narrative form à la Godard, it demonstrates that committing brutal acts is not the only path to barbarism, for even a mere stunted conscience is enough to lead a person to it.

Martin Horyna

About the film

140 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director Radu Jude / Screenplay Radu Jude / Dir. of Photography Marius Panduru / Editor Cătălin Cristuțiu / Art Director Iuliana Vîlsan / Producer Ada Solomon / Production Hi Film Productions / Coproduction endorfilm, Les films d'ici, KLAS FILM, Komplizen Film, ZDF/ARTE, TVR / Cast Ioana Iacob, Alexandru Dabija, Alex Bogdan, Ilinca Manolache, Șerban Pavlu / Sales Beta Cinema GmbH

About the director

Radu Jude (b. 1977, Bucharest, Romania). Selected filmography: The Tube with a Hat (2006, short), Alexandra (2007, short), The Happiest Girl in the World (Cea mai fericită fată din lume, 2009), Film for Friends (Film pentru prieteni, 2011, medium-length), Everybody in Our Family (Toată lumea din familia hoastră, 2012), Shadow of a Cloud (O umbra de nor, 2013, short), It Can Pass Through the Wall (Trece şi prin perete, 2014, short), Aferim! (2015), Scarred Hearts (Inimi cicatrizate, 2016), The Dead Nation (Țara moartă, 2016, doc.)