I have Eastern Europe on my mind today - don't know why. Here's an interesting write-up on a new documentary called The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu. The film, by Romanian director Andrei Ujica, is culled from archival footage, and is said to show the dictator's refulgent narcissism - which, as always, leads to blinding self-delusion. Of course, we all know how that kind of thing ends. (A warning. This link is to a short clip from a documentary showing the show trial and execution of the Ceausescus on Christmas Day, 1989. It is fascinating, but remember that it shows an execution. You've had fair warning and I don't want to hear any complaints.)
The Romanian revolution of 1989 was the only one of that year to see a widespread outbreak of violence. Romanians are laudably vigilant when it comes to preserving the memory of those bloody days and the bloody regime they vanquished. An example. I visited Bucharest with two friends in 2006. We walked by the building that used to house the Securitate, Romania's notorious secret police. That building was badly damaged in the revolution, and one could well have imagined that, with their freedom won, Romanians would want to finish the job and obliterate in its entirety this symbol of their repression.
As it happens, they didn't destroy it, but they didn't exactly rebuild it, either. Instead, they built a sleek, modern, optimistic building that rises from the old building's shattered hull. It says "look forward" and "never forget" at the same time. It is very poignant.
It seems that Ujica's film does much the same thing, with celluloid instead of glass, brick, and mortar. I can't wait to see it.
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