12:08 East of Bucharest
Director: Corneliu Porumboiu
Year Released: 2006
Rating: 2.5
A TV reporter plans an on-air "debate" of sorts to discuss whether or not there was a revolution in 1989 that ousted the notorious monster Nicolae Ceauºescu - the "answer," which echoes Kurosawa's Rashomon, is that there is no definite "truth." I'll grant there's a kind of wry poetry to this - mostly the last few minutes and the first act - even though the purposely junked-up TV program segment comes across as artificial and the attempts at humor are strained. Might be more potent for those who've lived - or live - in countries like this: in America, we routinely forget/ignore/re-write our own history or the way we treat our working class and distract ourselves with modern amenities (the Internet, cell phones, HD televisions the size of a Rothko painting, etc.).
