Yes is true , the movie is based on a series of books weighted by Mircea Eliade ,If you read the books you will see how bad the movie is!!! A person with decent imagination will enjoy the books ten times more . Search and try to read : La tiganci ; Pe strada Mantuleasa and La umbra unui crin . Enjoy ! Bonus to read also from him a great love story named Maitreyi , book inspired from his own life story about him and the poet and novelist Maitreyi Devi who wrote her version of story about them, named : Na Hanyate ( Dragostea nu moare / Love doesn't die ) . In the end Mircea Eliade is hard to "transfer" from book to movie but this movie is overrated here, in Romania is rated with 7.6!
