MovieChat Forums > A fost sau n-a fost? (2006) Discussion > 'The events of 1989'. Was it (a revoluti...

'The events of 1989'. Was it (a revolution) or wasn't it (a coup d'état)

posted 17 years ago by rhadoo32
6 replies | jump to latest

Was it a revolution? Or wasn't it? Not just in the tiny city of Vaslui,Moldova province, Romania, but in Romania as a whole.
All the countries of the soviet block had velvet revolutions in 1989. The soviets tacitly allowed this after the fall of East Germany.
By december 1989 only Romania and the USSR countries remained under full communism soviet-style. Under an iron fist dictator who was getting older and was bringing his country into starvation.
Ceausescu was out of control forcing us to repay all our foreign debt in under 10 years. He drove the country to poverty. Something had to be done.
However under him were 2nd and 3rd generation communists trying to keep control. So they overthrew Ceausescu in a mock revolution nowadays called "the events of december 1989".
However the courage of some people who revolted genuinely against the tyrant, thus giving the new communists under Iliescu their chance, can not be denied. Thousands died in Timisoara, Bucuresti and other major cities of Romania.
This film takes a look at all those people involved in those events.
The idealists who risked their lives to protest against the opressors. In the end they have no chance. Not even their courage those days is recognized. They remain defeated by the system.
The opressors who turned against their master Ceausescu to seize power (full control at least until 1996) and are now forming maybe 95% of the upper ruling class of Romania. They are now the biggest revolutionaries. They did NOT work in the Secret Security Service. They were NOT top communist party officials.
And the main part of "revolutionaries", who appeared just after Ceausescu fled. They admit it. They appeared not to protest against Ceausescu but to rejoice someone overthrew him and to now applaud their new masters. And they're proud of it. After all it kinda was better before '89....
So what was it?

[–] kaskata-1 16 years ago

Can you explain this part:
it was kinda better before 89.

??????

[–] tyboulder 16 years ago

Maybe my illiteracy is to blame, or maybe that this movie wasn't necessarily intended for world markets, but I wish 12:08 offered a bit of this history that you've provided Rhadoo. It would have given those of us living in, say, Denver, Colorado a deeper appreciation for the themes and characters. (At least those of us not well versed in recent Eastern European history...) ;) I watched the movie twice today and thought it was great.

[–] PeterMarkoff 16 years ago

I think the movie is pretty clear, people in communist countries (under soviet influence) did nothing 40 years against communism and finally when they have nothing to risk at the end of 1989, then they become "heroes", because everything was already decided and whole demonstrations and velvet revolutions were just jokes, it was just theatre to fool own sight. It's mentioned in movie - they became "heroes" just after Ceausescu left, not before - so tell me where is there revolution and any heroism? It's like giving advices about battle, when battle is already done. There was really not revolution, 1968 was more revolutionary year than 1989.

Ad "it was kinda better before 89" - nothing it's only black or only white, there were also some positives before 89 - life was more calm, people were less driven by career. You can find at wrong side always something good, even at war you can find something what is better than today like people are helping each other more. Of course after 1989 is much better life, when you sum all positives and all negatives against before 1989, but in some things it was kinda better before 89.

Peter Markoff
If you don't like my english, write it to me in my own language.

[–] tyboulder 16 years ago

Thanks for the clarification.

[–] kolcsar_mihai 15 years ago

what? in the movie it is vaslui. ppl didn't do nothing for 40 years because it wasn't yet bad enough, but in 89 it was.
vaslui is a small town, with simpler ppl, there was no revolution there, but timisoara, sibiu, alba iulia, bucuresti...ppl fought, they were shot at, ppl died. romania was far from a velvet revolution.

are you even romanian? or do you jsut like commenting?

[–] rhadoo32 10 years ago

Dude I actually remember the "revolution".
In a block building opposite to mine, all the people were army staff.

Unsurprisingly, they were shooting AK-47s at imaginary "terrorists" so that you today would preach me about revolutions. The sad fact is a lot of people died so that this could be turned into a revolution.

Even sader was the episode where the army command pitted conscripts against conscripts at the Otopeni airport, telling both sides the other were terrorists.

The last phonecall the guys receive in the show is from the mother of one of the martyrs in Otopeni....

These kind of things made up a bloody coup, much bloodier than it should have been.

If you watch the movie again, and ignore the humour, you will see there is NO chance that those sad characters portrayed in the movie had any part in the "revolution". Same as those poor bastards who took over the National Television.

The new "Securitate" power was recording their offscreen talks so as to discredit them afterwards.

The famous "Fa-te ca lucrezi" scene ([When we go live] Pretend you're busy!) scene that was played by romanian TV after the coup propagators regained control from the few brave citizens who thought they were controlling stuff. They got so discredited, Romanians even now laugh at them!

The only real turning points I can see could have been:

- The King coming back from exile and ruling Romania as a constitutional monarchy - then, not now. That would have helped us not waste 6-7 years...

- Apparently, as Iliescu (the guy who took over, former Communist high ranking official who fell out of favour with Ceausescu) and the other known communists who organised things tried to take the spotlight, according to Dinescu, a young man who had had his brother shot dead, wanted to shoot them, recognizing them as communists. Again, Dinescu was raving mad back then, having been under house arrest for years. But there may be some truth in his story!.
Of course in their foolishness, and as good Christian Romanians, Dinescu and all the others never let him.

One of history's what if moments? Maybe Porumboiu will make a movie!