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12:08 East of Bucharest

New Year commenced with a fast, delightful reading. The movie script of ’12:08 East of Bucharest’, by Corneliu Porumboiu (2006).

Sixteen years after the fall of the communism in Romania, a small town local television schedules before Christmas a talk show which intention is to answer the question: Was it there or wasn’t it there? revolution in our town.

The show guests, some obscure small town political figures don’t answer their phones at the set date. Jderescu, the talk show host, a former textile engineer and also the owner of the TV station, improvises by bringing in two relatively random men. Santa Clause and the history teacher. Piscoci, an old man often dressed as Santa during Christmas holidays and Manescu, a soft hearted alcoholic who insists that there was revolution in Vaslui. Himself, along with a handful of friends protested in the town’s square on 22^nd December 1989. And that, before 12:08 o’clock.

The debate will center on the 12:08, the time Ceausescu fled Bucharest. Was it any unrest recorded before 12:08 in Vaslui square, or wasn’t it?  Constantly interrupted by live calls from viewers who will either challenge the events as presented by Manescu, or will ally with the guests, the dialogue is alert, entirely subjective and often slides towards quarrels.
An entertaining analysis of one’s desire for social assertion, for a special place in the events that shaped the society he lives in.

You can download the free movie script in Romanian from   www.liternet.ro

A review in the New York Times.