L'apres-midi d'un tortionnaire (2001)

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Between 1965 and 1989, Nicolae Ceausescu was the absolute dictator of Romania, and under his regime some 1,700 people were employed in the business of torturing political dissidents. After Ceausescu's rule came to an end in 1989 (following a coup that led to the dictator's execution), only one man who participated in Ceausescu's crimes against his people, Franz Tander, was willing to come forward and tell the truth about his horrific deeds. This film, based on a novel by Doina Jela, offers a fictionalized version of Tander's efforts to clear his conscience, and the world's unexpectedly blasé reaction to his statements. A journalist (Ioana Macaria) and an academic who is an authority on political torture (Radu Beligan) visit the rural home of Frant Tandara (Gheorghe Dinica), who was a willing participant in the barbarous acts of Romania's Communist leadership and wishes to tell his story for the record. However, as Tandara tries to relate his horrific tales of torture and mayhem, one thing or another keeps stopping him -- from a faulty tape recorder to Tandara's wife (Coca Bloos), who believes such things should be left in the past -- and he discovers that hardly anyone seems especially interested in learning the truth about his nation's awful legacy. However, in time Tandara finds someone is interested in his crimes after all -- his son, who leads a group of over-zealous patriots who want to execute him for his crimes against the people. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi