The Journey

Introduction by director Stere Gulea.

This remarkable adaptation of Marin Preda’s novel covers the years preceding World War II in a village in the Danube Plain, with its visible and invisible tensions as its residents contend with the early consolidation of capitalism in the rural area. Like the novel, the film combines realism and mythology, with Ilie Moromete—a Socratic character symbolic of popular wisdom—marking a monumental performance for Victor Rebengiuc, and featuring an equally impressive Luminița Gheorghiu in her first major role. Despite denunciation by Communist authorities for his portrayal of village life, Gulea managed to outsmart the censors with this exquisitely shot black-and-white classic that’s not to be missed.

Director in Focus: Stere Gulea
Possessing a view of the world that’s both “severe and objective” (according to his colleague Lucian Pintilie), Stere Gulea is one of the most important Romanian directors, with a career spanning more than 40 years. Well known for his literary adaptations (including Fox: Hunter, based on Herta Müller’s Even Back Then, the Fox Was the Hunter), Gulea also wrote and directed State of Things, one of the most powerful accounts of the Romanian Revolution. Making Waves pays tribute to him by screening his most recent film, I’m an Old Communist Hag, and one of the masterpieces of Romanian cinema, The Journey (Moromeții).