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

Synopsis

Some people view the Romanian army’s mass murder of Jews in Odessa in 1941 as the start of the Holocaust. A statement by then prime minister Antonescu gives the title to this deftly structured political drama. Idealistic theatre director Mariana is working on an outdoor play based on the events referred to above. A nerve-wracking process in which she has to deal with extras refusing to work with Roma actors and local public officials seeking to sanitise the production. The present proves closer to the past than Mariana would like.

Director Biography

Radu Jude (b. 1977, Bucharest, Romania). Selected filmography: The Tube with a Hat (2006, short), Alexandra (2007, short), The Happiest Girl in the World (Cea mai fericită fată din lume, 2009), Film for Friends (Film pentru prieteni, 2011, medium-length), Everybody in Our Family (Toată lumea din familia hoastră, 2012), Shadow of a Cloud (O umbra de nor, 2013, short), It Can Pass Through the Wall (Trece şi prin perete, 2014, short), Aferim! (2015), Scarred Hearts (Inimi cicatrizate, 2016), The Dead Nation (Țara moartă, 2016, doc.)