Silent Wedding (2008)

Waste of time

Just perfect...

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Perfect cinema ,good laughs with deep profound feeling, the great of this movie is not long only one hour and a half masterpiece especially at the second half,watch it never miss it

I have known Horatiu Malaele as one of the young and gifted actors of the Romanian theater. Having left Romania 26 years ago I could see him now and then in movies or theater in TV, and heard only sporadic news about other directions he developed in - stage director, theater manager, satiric cartoons artist. Now I could see his first tentative as a movie director, and it is more than satisfying and certainly much more than just a debut. Make no mistake, this film does not look like the 'minimalistic' style films of the younger and better known generation of Romanian directors, it is more theatrical and inspired from classical Romanian literature in conception and looks deeper back into the history of Romania.The story written by Malaele and satiric author and playwright Adrian Lustig is set in the year 1953, the year of the death of Stalin and is supposed to happen around the time Stalin died, although by a decision that could not have been unintentional the action is set in summertime (allowing for a few beautiful countryside takes) while Stalin died on March 5th that year. In a Romania occupied by the Russian army, the traditional agriculture based on private property and way of life of the Romanian peasants fights a war without chances with the Communist economy and ideology imposed by the occupier. A wedding needs to happen, and what should have been a normal event in the course of life becomes a confrontation between two worlds, as no joy and no noise is allowed while the whole planet is supposed to be in grieving for the loss of the Father of the Peoples. The ending is inevitable and symbolic. Malaele and Lustig are not extremely careful with the historical details - I mentioned the date mismatch - but they are extremely true in building a set of characters which are full of color, nuances and humor - a kind of combination of the Romanian literature types encountered in the works of Caragiale and Marin Preda - who by themselves build a world that disappeared and to which this film tries to be a homage. The critic can be made that the negative characters are too schematic, the Communists and the Russian officers look like B-movie villains, but this seems to be intentional again, as the authors seem to say that the whole system that swapped Eastern Europe looked like a bad movies inspired villain system.There are many scenes to remember in this film, which in its best moments reminds the movies of Kusturica at their best. Of course the wedding scene itself is fit for movies anthologies, but I will also keep in mind for long the scene of the screening of the propaganda film in the village, and the closing that gives to the whole movie a different perspective and a supplementary dimension. The team of actors does a very good job, with Meda Andreea Victor shining over all in the role of the bride.I do not know if this was supposed to be a singular tentative in the multiple directions the career of Horatiu Malaele is taking, or whether he plans to continue with other films as director. If he does I will look forward to his future films.

This movie is ugly and wrong. It is decadent, sex-obsessed, cynical, nihilist, and against spreading the spirituality to the masses.It is clearly against communists, and Russians (really pathetic though). This hate message theme is politically correct these days. You can make a decent living by swearing to your previous bosses and be pampered by the new ones... As a side joke, it is good that the Chinese communists were not present in Romania, because these intellectual mercenaries would show them as rapists too… I suggest watching "Buletin de Bucuresti" a movie made during the communist regime. You can make a comparison between that comedy and this trash. And keep in mind that old movie contained also propaganda, but anyway it seems to me more honest and real.The main characters are shown making love in the open field in the middle of summer, only a few days before the tragical events occur. By the way guys, you should have known it, you pretend to describe historical events, that Stalin died on 5th of March, a date when it is barely the end of winter in Romania...Intelligent guys are currently in charge with lowering the standard and expectation of the masses. Congrats Lustig and Malaele! This movie is not a mistake, this movie is simply wrong at its roots and intentions.

There will be others, I hope- since Malaele did such a good job with this first film of his. The movie tells more than it just shows, even if the story is just a little bit loose in places. The essence permeates just fine and the strong symbolism it uses (like in the wedding silent feast or the silly mute comedy scenes), all the thick strokes still leave room for subtleties and interpretation. It naturally flows from the savorous comedy bucolical scenes towards the dark drama at the end. It may very well be regarded as a critique of the Romanian capacity to adapt, our viral submissiveness that can make us just go with the wave, instead of reacting and fighting back. The amenability slowly mutates into fear and corruption. As a matter of fact, didn't we all leave with the circus? We let it control our lives and dictate the rules, we just accepted the yoke and the satire stopped doing the magic trick at some point. Dead and buried, but the communism still wanders around. There are still uprooted people for which the absence is a state of being. People like the quiet mourners, who cannot meet today's society and it's new coutumes without the presence of the dis consideration depicted in the final scene.