Priveste înainte cu mânie

In this film Romanian director Nicolae Margineanu focuses on the toll that political and social crises can take on the personal values and family life of ordinary people."Look Forward in Anger" reflects on the harsh realities of the post-Communist era in which the film itself was shot.Four years after the bloody Romanian revolution of 1989,Remus Margineanu delivers a brilliant performance in the role of Stefan Ciugudeanu,a former political dissident who wakes up to an uncertain future and feels cheated of his revolutionary expectations both by the economic transition and by the subtle but sure perpetuation of old communist structures.Problematic because of their centrality to the film remain,in my opinion,some Western stereotypes about Romania,such as the ever growing number of stray dogs and street children as a metaphor of the country's inability to deal with the bleak legacy of the Communist period.On top of this,the frequent aerial perspectives (be they from a crane,helicopter or the top of a building),as well as the main character's belief up to the very end that the way out can come only from high above the ground could be said to represent Romania's inability to move towards the future because of its perseverance to deal with material problems in an idealistic way.Whether or not Margineanu is critical of this superseded idealism is something each viewer should decide for him-/herself.