for many Romanians, Sergiu Nicolaescu remains a popular director. not good, not bad, only maker of surrogates who supports the national pride, the American 1930style of confrontations between good cop and the bad guys, literary adaptations and political lessons. the desire to remain in top after the fall of Communist regime was not the most inspired choice. but "Carol I" is a special film . first because it represents the end of a circle. the second - because it gives a decent and honest portrait of the first Romanian king. as a puzzle of scenes from his early films about same theme. and, against the ordinary sins of his filmography, it is an useful film. not for be a history lesson but as seed for questions about the modern Romania making. and for understand the present . this is all. a king and his work. his wife, his war, his last choice, his collaborators. and, maybe more important, his deep solitude.