At the time I read the book the film is based on, it was a reflection of the reality surrounding us, in Romania, therefore after the first print it was banned by the Ceausescu's communist regime. As time went by, I emigrated in the US, and seen the movie 10 years after I've read the book and although the movie supposedly is a fiction, it played like a documentary in front of my eyes. It is hard, as a Romanian, to disconnect from my personal experiences, but if anybody is interested in what the communism in Romania was like, this movie is the way to find out. The tragic and the comedy are coming together to weave the fabric of a society so sick, that life becomes surreal. For my money this is a great movie, the fresco of a society governed by rules unknown to civilization.