George Constantin, Emil Botta, George Mihaita, Vladimir Gaitan, Ernest Maftei, Ileana Popovici, Nicolae Wolcz

Synopsis:

Ripu and Vuica are two young students who celebrate their promotions one night by drinking one glass too many. Drunk, they attack the bar owner, break a window and fight each other. A few days later, they are led back to the scene of the crime by a police officer, a judge, a teacher and a film crew. The judge has decided that instead of going to jail, they will have to work as actors in a state sponsored documentary against alcoholism. They must faithfully reconstruct the events of that day, from the assault on the bartender to the final fight. That which did not happen in real life ends tragically in the fictionalized version.

“I consider that the shock of ‘Reenactment' is a vital, regenerating one, that it is the prelude for other shocks, which will replace a cinema of mystification by a cinema fanatically faithful to the truth.” (Lucian Pintilie)

“One of the pinnacles of Eastern European cinema.” (Antonin Liehm)

“ ‘Reenactment' is a strong and mature work, nourished by a profound civil and cultural awareness of one's country and today's world. It is dominated by a sense of ‘the tragic that arises from the grotesque', as in Chekhov or the great Romanian playwright Caragiale, two writers very dear to Pintilie, who is also a theatre director.” (Aggeo Savioli, ‘A Pesaro problemi e drammi dei giovani', in L'Unita, September 13, 1970)

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