I've been trying to watch all Romanian films of late, although without much success. Some are just too ludicrous and others simply can't arouse any interest on my behalf.
I'd seen Trafic from Mitulescu, a slice of life piece from the busy happenings of Bucharest, which was a celebrated achievement of Romanian cinema at that time - with some merit. Now, "Cum mi-am petrecut sfarsitul lumii" is, firstly, a film with a striking title that can lead you on - erroneously. Going beyond the metaphor, I guess you can accept it as what the end of communism symbolized: the end of an era.
The film itself is about a young girl, Eva, (very well played by D. Petre) who is not only passing through the usual problems which come with adolescence, but who must also bear the weight of communism and its effects on her shoulders. I myself saw in her a prototype of the modern woman, the one who wants to think for herself and act as she deems is correct (but who also understands the importance of sacrificing herself at times), and all this burden of age and political restraints are fantastically mirrored on D. Petre's face. However, the film doesn't really go far beyond illustrating the last segment of the Ceausescu era - the fear, the hate, the desire to flee. While Eva's constant struggle, between responsibility (family) and rebellion, does deliver a certain dose of tension and dynamics, the film felt unsatisfying in the end.
What I'm referring to is that feeling you expect to encounter after a rather warm film about a different kind of childhood with a rather different sort of dreams: that overwhelming experience of fulfillment - both what the characters are concerned and the audience. So while "Cum mi-am petrecut sfarsitul lumii" has its good moments and conveys a very true perspective of those days, it simply did not satisfy me. Maybe it's the fact that I "missed out" on the era and, consequently, can't truly understand them. But what I felt was real enough for me, so the problem must lie within the story.
