The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu
September's Top 30 Films
•
3h 7m
Directed by Andrei Ujica • Documentary • 2011 • 180 minutes
A monumental achievement, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF NICOLAE CEAUSESCU tracks the rise and fall of the infamous Romanian dictator through his own propaganda footage. Writer and director Andrei Ujica, along with editor Dana Bunescu, crafted over 1,000 hours of official state broadcasts and intimate home movies into a three-hour tour-de-force that depicts how Ceausescu created the country in his own image, regardless of the cost to its citizens. His rapid ascent to power is aided by rubber stampt parliamentary meetings and celebrated in garish visits to Communist allies including North Korea. A hero in his mind, Ceausescu is combative, vain, and unquestioningly in control. This "brilliant documentary" (The New York Times) shows the brutal psychology of a dictator, a narcissism in which his subjects are seen but never heard. That is, until their off-screen discontent results in revolution, and Ceausescu is left muttering denials of his life and his crime.
Up Next in September's Top 30 Films
-
Time Indefinite (Ross McElwee)
Directed by Ross McElwee • Documentary • 1993 • 117 minutes
McElwee, Charleen Swansea, and several other memorable characters you met in Sherman's March invite you to pick up their story in Time Indefinite, McElwee's hilariously profound sequel to his much-beloved, critically acclaimed hit.
"Gl...
-
Alice (Jan Švankmajer)
Directed by Jan Švankmajer • Animation • 1989 • 84 minutes
When Alice follows the White Rabbit into Wonderland, so begins this dream expedition into the astonishing landscape of childhood, through many dangerous adventures, and ultimately to Alice's trial before the King and Queen of Hearts.
Cz...
-
The Last to Know
Directed by Bonnie Friedman • Documentary • 1981 • 45 minutes
Acclaimed at the New York Film Festival, THE LAST TO KNOW presents the real worlds of four addicted women, three in recovery, and one still drinking and using drugs. In their own words and in their own environments, these four very di...
