Remembering the past: Representations of women’s trauma in post-1989 Romanian cinema

Elena Adam,Simona Mitroiu,Lincoln Geraghty

doi:10.1080/23311983.2016.1182718

Elena Adam, Simona Mitroiu + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2016.1182718

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Abstract

AbstractThe paper focuses on the long-term effects of Romanian communist natality politics and the way in which cinema was used to re-appropriate the past after the shift in political climate in 1989. Romania’s process of coming to terms with the past was characterized by political reluctance to explore the communist legacy. However, personal attempts of recollecting the past have a unique ability to bridge the intergenerational gap and facilitate the transmission of knowledge and memories. This paper therefore presents two examples of Romanian cinema focused on the experiences of those directly affected by the family planning politics of the communist regime. Das Experiment 770 - Gebaren auf Behelf (2005), directed by Razvan Georgescu and Florin Iepan, is a documentary based on oral testimonies and documents that sketch the history of Romanian communism and the involvement of various individuals. The second source used—4 Months, 3 Weekes and 2 Days (2007) directed by Cristian Mungiu—is a film that uses a...

Highlights

In the former communist countries of Eastern Europe the process of coming to terms with the past (Bickford & Sodaro, 2010, p. 76) was approached using a variety of memory mechanisms that range from transitional justice (Stan, 2013), lustration law and public commemorations, to autobiographical references and oral history public collections
We consider two examples of Romanian cinema focused on the traumas and experiences of those directly affected by the family planning politics
In Romania the political class was mainly reserved in dealing with the past, especially in the years following the change of regime

Summary

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

This paper examines Romanian natality politics during the communist regime, and the post-1989 attempts to re-appropriate the past through cinematic representations of this topic. We consider two examples of Romanian cinema focused on the traumas and experiences of those directly affected by the family planning politics. Cinema often spans the intergenerational gap and can reproduce traumas that are difficult for those who underwent them to confront directly. In this way, the second and third generations can access their relatives’ struggle and recognize the strength required to survive such circumstances. The cinema examples presented in this paper address women’s trauma during the communist regime, as many Romanian women found themselves trapped in a system that controlled their entire lives—even their bodies

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