This 2006 film by Radu Muntean focuses on the night of between the 22nd and the 23rd of December 1989, when in Bucharest the Revolution was in full swing. People were in the streets, the Ceauşescus had fled and Communism had basically fallen. Yet a full-out war was still going, with several sides shooting at each other, even though nobody knew exactly on whose side they were now.
Costi is a young man in a Militia unit on a patrolling mission through the streets. Seeing civil revolutionaries celebrating freedom and fighting to defend it, he deserts his unit to go and fight with them. Not knowing what the final results will be, and not wanting to get into trouble, the commander of his unit decides to go looking for him.
What follows is a record of the chaos which has dominated those final moments of the Revolution. There is violence, there are gun battles, yet nobody knows what really is going on, with contradictory orders and chaos dominating the scene.
Watching the film you will find yourself unsure as to what the motivation of some of the characters are, or who exactly is pro- and who is anti- revolution, but this is a confusion you share with the characters themselves.
Despite the ambiguity, the things which remain clear are the human emotions, the fear of death, the desire for freedom or a mother’s worry for a son gone missing. These elements deliver a strong and engaging film.