NYAFF 2010: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF NICOLAE CEAUSESCU Review
The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceauşescu is a vast methodical fragment, spanning 25 years of Romanian ideological dictatorship. Assembled form thousands of hours of archival footage this 3 hour pseudo-documentary is as impressive as it is mundane to the contextually unaware.
Impeccably maintained newsreel footage mixes with consumer hand-held documentation and protocol congress recordings to create an absorbing narrative of Ceauşescu's rule. The construction contains no narration of any kind; original audio recordings and the occasional produced audio cue lead the audience through a personal recollection of the titular leader. Watching the footage leads to an understanding of the man unobtainable in historical texts, a manufactured autobiography that shows more pomp than trepidation.
Context is a tough thing to come by without narration. With 25 odd years to cover the film briskly moves through time, our only hints of epoch the occasional foreign administrator or political speech. Newsreels don't have the privilege of going behind the ceremony very often, the lack of which leaves a loss of political action; the rallies, and parades a show of socialist support lacking in details.
A magnificent accomplishment in terms of editing, the unanimous use of archival footage brings an immediacy missing from other historical document. As recording devices become more prevalent the repository for historical fiction will grow and I can only hope we see more filmmakers with this type of ambition creating new forms of documentary.
Sat Oct 9: 11:30am (WRT) Ticket Info >>
Do you feel this content is inappropriate or infringes upon your rights? Click here to report it, or see our DMCA policy.
