Filantropica

This is amazing. A true masterpiece. It is definetely the best romanian movie ever made. A great comedy about richness, poorness, love. Very well written, some scenes will make you laugh with tears, great one liners. And also what can i say about the director, Nae Caranfil? Perfect. It sometimes reminds me of Guy Ritchie. All in all, an amazing movie. If you have the chance to see it, all over the world, do it, it's awesome.

In Romania they call it the 'transition' period. Whoever invented this term meant to describe the period between Communist Romania and a normal society, a period where people can recover dignity, learn speaking the truth and trust their human fellows. The issue is that in Romania, as in all other former Communist countries this period was marked by a great amount of dis-illusions, by many broken dreams and destinies as the recovery proved not to be easy neither on the economic not on human plans. The place of human relations was taken by tricks and robbery, the emptiness of the Communist slogans was replaced by the emptiness of the commercial TV, surviving as a human being is tough.

'Filantropica' presents a point of view which may be unknown or hard to catch for many non-Romanian viewers. The Romanian literature and theater has a great satiric tradition, and the founder of absurd comedy theater Eugene Ionesco was of Romanian origin. This is where the villain characters in 'Filantropica' like the one of the master combinator played by Gheorghe DInica come from, although the figure of the little professor of literature dreaming to overcome his miserable condition (through money? through love?) played by Mircea Diaconu is as universal as a Benigni or Woody Allen would have created it.

Some comments consider 'Filantropica' as the best film of the Romanian cinema. I believe that this is an exaggeration, there are certain flaws especially the extended and un-justified use of off-screen voice in the first part of the movie. 'Moartea Domnului Lazarescu' of Cristi Puiu, another movie inspired by the reality of the same period is a better film, with somehow a more optimistic message. Yet this is an important film about this complex period in the history of Romania.

Are you laughing or are you crying? I dunno and this realistic view on today's life in some east European country (Romania) makes you aware that the power is in hands of those who are related to the mob. "Filantropica" tells the story of an ordinary man, a schoolteacher who writes some books in his free time (without success). He earns enough to keep himself alive but from the moment he wants something out of line (sympathy for a gorgeous looking girl) he has just one route : following the route of crime. "Filantropica" shows perfect how the mob is involved in everything, from televisionshows till the beggar on the street and it might be a very hard movie, it's a brilliant masterpiece of today's society. Absolute must!

Beautiful black humor film, which shows the system in Romania, even still today. The part of teacher Oividiu shows, how even now teachers have to fiddle to enrich their income.The young woman Diana is the personification of Romanian women who love their country and also find ways to add income, but still keep their pride, dignity and identity. They have style and grace. Diana and his wife know how to show this to the viewer.Wonderful acting. The youngsters could be from any place on this earth, they are all the same, react the same,have no identity, therefor it is great to see how Caranfil finds a great way to show the world of nothing to something. He proofs that there is character on both sides. Even the beggars get respect and in a humorous way there is a cooperation. During the film there is a symbiose between the poor and "nouveau rich" who respect and even complement each other.

This movie was highly appreciated, I belive, because of its mere content, meaning that the director Nae Caranfil puts all its talent into it and struggles to evince that Romania is a very complex and intricate country, full of contrasts and paradoxes. Caranfil is eager to make the public appreciate its creation and that can be seen several times throughout the film. iTs satisfaction is all that counts. In Filantropica, he blends comedy in drama in the very specific and contondent way which Romaniands behold as "laugh of worries and trouble". That's why this is an excellent movie. The social and psychological satire couldn't be more obviously conveyed than it is by the main character, a superficial teacher, who drggs his dull life day by day neither with a purpose, nor with a glimpse of satisfaction. But what has satisfaction become nowadays ? Does satisfaction mean money? Must you be ignorant and most of all corrupt to be happy? Under this superficial layer lies the multitude of social convictions and the chaos of a society that struggles to keep, and moreso to gain its real and unhypocrite identity, under a constant flow of foreign However the prospects are grim. Being a satirical comedy, "Filantropica" tries to put in mind of the beholders one question? Have we become so anonyme and unimportant individually that we haven't even realized it and are we constantly manipulated by social cercles beyond our reach and knowledge? We'll never know, will we? All that we can do is "laugh at our own incapacities and faults" of middle or lower class people that we are, as the great Chaplin said. So go and watch Filantropica. I became pretty damp after seeing it, realizing how useless people, specially in the ex-Comunist countries can be. But in order to reach that point of view you must first know the words of a great philosopher: Andre Malraux: "What is the human life? Nothing! But nothing worths more than a human life!". Is this the idea conveyed in "Filantropica"? You will have to judge, so go and see it and then try to answer the previous questions. Although not a great movie, it is very good and maybe it will put a differnt view of Romania to all you westerners(I don't say this disdainfully)who know it only by extreme poverty and degradation. See the film and you will understand a small, but important part of my country 8/10