15/20
Tale
During the Romanian Revolution of 1989 in Sibiu, a brutal attack on a police station took place, which escalated into armed clashes between soldiers, police, protesters and secret police
References: Rocky (1976). 1. The great production “Freedom” or “Liberation” (2023) directed by Tudor Giurgiu and produced by Oana Giurgiu is a rare gem among the few Romanian films depicting the events that took place in Romania in December 1989.
This effect is also achieved by the camera being placed quite close to the action and the sound focus/angles/framing/sound design during dialogue or action-focused scenes
The experience is incredibly immersive, in part due to the quick and deliberate camera movements (as if you were one of the supporting characters witnessing the story unfolding) and the incredible sound design and effects (complementing the sense of hearing and your presence during these events). Everything from the décor to the aftermath presents a full and deeply immersive experience of the 1989 revolution as seen from Sibiu, giving the impression of a “Hollywood budget”; a production factor for which the production team should be commended and which makes this film a must-see for all Romanians, especially those who did not live through the events and who would greatly benefit from adding this small reference point to the lexicon of observations about their country’s history. As for the dialogue, the lines are beautifully piquant, capturing the colourful vocabulary of the times and the spirit of the Romanian people through their language in the face of adversity (thanks in no small part to the impeccable performances of the actors and actresses).
Lack of a Message The other side of the coin is what turned out to be an incomplete artistic vision on the part of the directorial team
Sparkling here and there with banal, modern and humorous moments, the immersion is not broken, and the overarching theme of the Romanian saying: “Facem haz de necaz”; – or “Making fun of trouble”; remains beautifully captured, something that Romanian audiences would clearly empathize with despite the bland, hopeless, and macabre atmosphere. 2. To put it vaguely, we are left with the confusing feeling that we do not fully understand the message of the film – as if we had been presented with a perfectly made cake at 1:00 PM on a random Tuesday and wondered what the occasion was.
This may be due in part to the deliberate neutrality of the director’s vision, or an accidental oversight due to the focus on the story itself, the research, and its delivery
As other reviewers have put it, the film is an exceptional radiography of the events that took place during this period, but as with any radiography it requires a diagnostician who should guide the patient through the final result, drawing proper and understandable conclusions – perhaps not in the case of contemporary art, but certainly when it comes to historical films. In the case of Libertate, the director’s vision was either overshadowed by the focus on production and realism, or was diluted in the process to the point that the viewer does not feel gently waltzed into an overarching message or a summing-up moral as is usually the case with storytelling regardless of medium. Conclusions can still be drawn, but they may have been left inconveniently largely at the discretion and subjective experience of the viewer, who in this case, regardless of generation, is seeking less freedom of opinion and more answers about what actually happened in reality and who is responsible for the many deaths that occurred.