The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu

As the title implies, the film is a montage of Ceausescu's life as president the way he maybe would have liked it shown. Always close to the country and its people, standing up for their right to happiness while maintaining excellent international relations. It's a very well crafted albeit a tad long movie and a very interesting glimpse into the Communist era, as long as you keep in mind that, by the very nature of its material, half of the real picture is only hinted at.

Aside from the footage that bookends the film, Ceausescu was behind the far majority of the found footage that makes up the film, staging scenes and editing footage for maximum impact. That the man was eventually executed by his people gives the rest of the celebratory footage a powerful counterpoint, showing it as a false front. And while the film is much too long, the idea of the film--the way it communicates through irony--is a good one.

"The conviction that this is a documentary that needed to be made and presented just so is ultimately quite persuasive." - Michael Nordine

Biased for a purpose, this documentary captures Romanian history through the myopic lens of Ceausescu and the State. The film is fresh and fascinating and, despite its three hour running time, never feels too long. However, prior knowledge of the subject is a must, as the film is in no way traditionally informative.

Fascinating and unique documentary. Going in as someone completely ignorant of Romanian history, it's sort of like a mystery or a jigsaw puzzle to figure out what's going on. Couldn't wait to head back and read Wikipedia.

I feel ashamed as a quasi-Marxist to see such scenes, petty bureaucrats pretending to be pure communists and workers, to be "great" heroes of leading "nations"... You and your kinds have destroyed an utopia.

Fascinating, engrossing documentary artfully constructs an “official” portrait of Ceausescu, as well as incorporating a tour of world political history (the cameos from other world leaders are almost as interesting as our lead!) In a sense, its greatest strength of its archival footage base is also something of a weakness – if you know nothing about Ceausescu, the film is not going to tell you much about the “other side”, outside of the ironic and sardonic tone it occasionally indulges in.

Estreava há 10 anos no Festival de Cannes. Não estão brincando quando chamam isso de autobiografia, selecionaram cronologicamente montanhas de filmes governamentais do Ceausescu, no início achei que haveria um discurso dialético das imagens contrapondo ao que aparecia na fachada do governo, mas o filme é só isso mesmo, três horas da galera aplaudindo o cara, até a derrocada final. Como material histórico isso é ótimo, mas eu gosto de um pouco de pimenta nos meus filmes. WEBRip no MK

The lack of narration works well up until about the 30 minute mark, then it quickly gets stale. It's not that you can't easily pick up on what's going on, it's more that the sporadic white background noise does very little to enhance the experience. Having an interest in Ceausescu, or Romania during this era isn't a prerequisite. If anything, it may be a disadvantage. This is a three hour film using all propagandist state footage. Though well edited and informative, it's extremely exhausting.

This wonderful doc with no voiceover, no talking heads, no explanations, ties together footage of Ceausescu's time, the rise, and fall. The 'no comment' aspect makes the experience even stronger and stranger.

Three hours of the autocrat waving at parades and construction sites, and then it's 1989 and riots breaks out. At the end (before the trial), you should see the most famous speech in Romanian history, watched in person by 100,000 & on live TV by 75% of the country. He's booed and jeered. He lashes out, confused and angry. The scene isn't in the film, though. My thought is that this movie isn't for me; it's for Romanians, who know what's missing. The violence of this man was in what wasn't shown.

Documentary is about editing and this is one of the purest examples. Ceausescu comes off as so unassuming that he seems embarrassed by his shrewdly coerced cult of personality.

2011 haziraninda izledim. Bu film sinemayi biraz olsun degisterecek mi zaman gosterecek ama sadece Ujica'nin insanustu cabasi ve found footage'in uncanny guzelligi / onemi bile yeter.