Experimentul Pitesti

"The Pitesti Experiment" is undoubtedly a film worth watching, not only for its profound theme and emotional impact but also for the impressive effort of the team that made this project possible. It stands as a tribute to our recent history and a testament to the human sacrifice in the face of unimaginable atrocities.

What makes this film truly remarkable is the fact that it was self-funded. The people who worked on it spent years conducting thorough research, poured their hearts and souls into it, and worked tirelessly to faithfully depict the horrors of communist prisons. Every detail, from the set design to the performances, reflects the passion and dedication of the team.

As the final film of the late maestro Ion Caramitru, The Pitesti Experiment becomes even more precious, serving as an artistic testament to an exceptional career. Additionally, Sergiu Flesner delivers a memorable performance, contributing to the authenticity and emotional intensity of the story. Filming in the city of Iasi adds extra value, showcasing locations that have witnessed history.

This film is more than a cinematic production - it is a history lesson, an invitation to reflection, and a tribute to the memory of those who suffered in the name of freedom. It deserves all our appreciation and support!

Last night I was present with my colleagues at the Pitesti Philharmonic for the release here, too, of the independent feature film Experimentul PITESTI, by the young producer and director Victoria Baltag, with whom I had the opportunity to meet 12 years ago, just before to beginning to work on this featurefilm. This feature is a distinctive event, a document-film, a historical paragraph.

The Pitesti experiment remains in Romania's recent history one of the cruelest methods of re-educating the imprisoned, most of them pupils and students whose thinking had to be changed in order to comply with communist requirements.

The artistic film, a tough one, moves you and makes you witness some atrocities that took place shortly before we were born, in the places near us, at the Pitesti Prison.

The more people become aware of the possibility of the presence of "evil", the harder it can be repeated.

I invite you to watch this piece of black history that puts Pitesti on an unfair map of cruelty for awareness and knowledge.

I congratulate Victoria for the work done and the result - a masterpiece, a film that makes Pitesti known all over the world, and with the effort of each of us, we can show that everything that happened during that time was just an unrepeatable episode."

I find it difficult to state how I feel having seen the movie. I know it is not for the faint hearted but it is necessary, critical in our days to know the truth, the history as it happened.

It may be hard for people to relate today although, looking at the current conflict in Ukraine, authoritarianism is very present nowadays.

The fact the movie was made without a budget and still very much managed to reflect reality and provide a glimpse into what was the darkest, most cruel, dehumanising process in Romanian history (possibly not just Romanian history) is a fantastic thing in itself.

It reminds me once more that cruelty has no political or religious affiliation. It is a human being that simply lost their humanity.

The only reason for the rating is due to the gruesome representation. Not the kind of movie I'd like to see over and over.

I've seen the movie and wanted to say a few words while it's fresh in my memory.

Given the budget and the notoriety of the actors involved, I'd say it's a decent attempt to re-create the historical facts behind the real "Pitesti experiment".

It's not meant to be politically correct nor it does so. I would like to praise the performance of the actor that was cast as the leading role, he did a pretty good job to get inside the part. It shows perfectly how one can become just a tool of the regime when the self-preservation instinct becomes the only thing that drives their actions.

There are some scenes where the dialogue seems a bit sub-par or clumsy, but I think,overall, it manages to build upon and puts the viewer in the unsettling landscape of the prison horrors that occured back then. Some prison scenes are really hard to watch and will give some anxiety even to the toughest mind.

On a side note, this topic remains a dreadful page on Romania's history to this day, having left the main voices responsible for these horrors unaccounted for and unpunished.

If I have not succeeded through my articles and my direct experiences with the Romanian State reported on my blog as a free journalist and investigative sociologist in Romania to convince you that Romania is a Discreet Dictatorship and not a real democracy, surely the director of the film "The Pitesti Experiment", Victoria Baltag (My God, what a name! Reminds me of Vitoria Lipan from Baltagul; she seems like a woman destined from birth to carry the mission of bringing justice to the victims of communism even after death).

Victoria Baltag's film is recognized by the free critics in Romania as the film of the year 2023. But not by the Ministry of Culture and the Romanian State through its various cultural institutions, who refused to support the movie for the simple fact that today's politicians of the Single Party (PSD, PNL and their satellites AUR and SOS) in Romania, the children of those who caused the drama presented in the film The Pitesti Experiment, do not want to put their parents-torturers or just nomenclaturists of communism with the role of witnesses or even instigators at the time, in the embarrassing situation of having to remember the acts of cruelty described in the film.

I think this film is important for the culture of every Romanian, both of those who lived the harsh experience of communism but only later learned of its extent, just as the world learned about the horrors of Nazism and the Holocaust only after World War II, as well as of the young people who had no chance to know this dark side of Romania's recent history because today's descendants of yesterday's torturers rather wanted to hide the collective drama and trauma of this people linked to communism and communists. A drama which, as you will understand from Victoria Baltag's words, but also from my articles, is continued, even if discreetly, by the children of the communists who rule Romania today.

So I invite you to see this film which promises to be memorable and then write your honest and undisguised opinions about it on Facebook, where even in a discreet dictatorship like Romania, Freedom of Expression is still full.

Enjoy your viewing!