Doru Mitran Movies

Adapted from Romanian scholar Nicoleta Valéry-Grossu's 1976 memoirs, Binecuvantata fi inchisoare (Oh, Blessed Prison, loosely adapted from a line in an Alexander Solzhenitsyn poem) tracks the dissident's four years spent in a Soviet labor encampment and her subsequent religious and intellectual transformation. Beginning in 1949, Valéry-Grossu (portrayed by actress Maria Ploae) was falsely arrested and held under a bogus espionage charge, which then led to a staggeringly brutal three-month stint at a former monastery-turned prison. While at this prison (called Mislea), Valéry-Grossu discovers some inspiring etchings on a wall that prompt her to devote her remaining time to her previously dormant religious faith and in inspire her fellow captives, as well as those ordered to guard her. Her time at Mislea was cut short by her reassignment to the labor camps working on the Black Sea-Danube canal. Binecuvantata fi inchisoare, 65-year-old director Nicolae Margineanu's 2002 release, was selected for inclusion by the 2003 Montreal International Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

A filmmaker's plans to make a movie about a notorious murderer are abruptly derailed when the killer escapes from prison during a production of a religious play. Still dressed as Mary Magdalene, the fugitive goes to the director's apartment where he steals some clothing and the filmmaker's car. Anxious to resume filming his movie, but unable to until the killer is found, the director launches his own investigation into the criminal's whereabouts. As he learns more and more about his quarry from family, friends and cellmates, the director begins having serious doubts about the killer's guilt. Matters become more complicated when the director and the fugitive's seductive girlfriend begin falling in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This Romanian dramatic comedy offers metaphorical commentary on life after Ceausescu's reign as it tells the story of a rural community turned topsy-turvy in their mad quest for the snails a prominent senator has requested for his dinner. The trouble begins when a rather imposing, pompous senator comes to visit a small rural Romanian town for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for their new hydro-electric dam. After he finishes his speech, the senator is accosted by a Swiss film crew eager to interview him. The senator is inordinately concerned with presenting a positive image of Romania to the world at large and so when he learns that he and the journalists are to stay at the same villa, does everything he came to make sure that they see nothing scandalous. During the interview he casually mentions that he would like to have escargot for dinner the following night. To please him, the town fathers assign everyone in town to find the slimy delicacies; it is not an easy task. Meanwhile, a searching school teacher is accosted by two gypsies who try to rape her. Later the senator begs her not to press charges. The senator and his entourage then spend a restful day beside a lake oblivious to the increasing tensions between the desperately searching Romanians and the neighboring gypsies. Things escalate and a riot ensues, leaving the senator to scramble about trying to conceal the uprising. Finally he is served his snails and almost dies for the slippery critters turn out to be toxic. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Along the Black Sea coast, we see a man and a woman arguing. They are apparently vacationers. Before long, the man has gotten back into their car and driven off, stranding the woman in a remote area. She hitches a ride with a delivery truck driver. At one of his stops, she gets off his truck to go to get some water. When the driver comes back to his truck and sees her gone, he assumes she has found another ride, and leave her. Once again, she is stranded. This time, the location is a lighthouse. She and the keeper have no recourse but to become acquainted, and for the next few days, that is what they do. Eventually, the man who left her in the lurch comes back to look for her, and finds her at the lighthouse. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In Transylvania, in the 19th century, the village birthplace of a rich farmer's son is undergoing a cholera epidemic when he returns from studying at a university, and bodies are being removed from houses. Once at home, he spies the beautiful daughter of a local forester. However, one of his father's servants has also seen her, and they become rivals in love. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Set in 1899, this poetic, visually evocative period drama is a story about one man's acceptance of middle age in the face of a longing for a younger companion. Dr. Codrescu (George Motoi) arrives in a town he used to know well and makes the acquaintance of Adela (Marina Procopie), a winsome young divorcee who had been a child the last time he saw her. Codrescu is over 40, and although he has several chances to approach Adela with romance as an objective, he backs down each time. Meanwhile, his good friend Tuliu Dragan (Stefan Sileanu) is around to keep him company -- they were buddies in the army together. To complicate matters, Dragan has an on-going relationship with Adela's attractive mother. This drama won the Grand Prix at the 1985 San Remo Film Festival.
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide