Synopsis
Radu Jude’s black comedy centres on Mariana (Ioana Iacob), a theatre director. Mariana is orchestrating a massive showpiece that revisits what’s known as the ‘Romanian Holocaust’—a massacre of Eastern European Jews by Romanian authorities during World War II. We follow Mariana through her rehearsals as she fends off blind resistance from government representatives, and even her own actors. Can she defend a historical event against the wilful oblivion of Holocaust denial that plagues many a society today? At once farcical and disturbing, Jude’s film takes a wide-eyed look at the creative process and the stubborn, undying ghost of authoritarianism. It’s a mad, bold dash through history, politics, critical theory and Brechtian absurdity.