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

A drama that veers close to an essay film. Stubborn Mariana is staging a municipal WWII reenactment. To everyone's chagrin, including some of the volunteers, she puts the emphasis on Antonescu's and Romania's part in the Holocaust rather than battlefield heroics. This demands many explanations and counter-arguments. Painfully relevant, and Jude integrates the historio-political discourse with the fictional narrative of the film very well.

Unfortunately long stretches of this feel more like a philosophical/political history lesson than a movie. Luckily some other parts, especially the reenactment, does work.

Radu Jude is making politically charged films like no one else right now. Not only is the discourse extremely relevant but he really has a knack for the precise meta-framing and aesthetic needed to capture modernity.

30. Ankara Film Festivali.