RĂSCOALA (Der Aufstand)

In 1907, a bloody uprising broke out in Moldavia, then the Kingdom of Romania, and spread throughout the country. The peasants saw themselves pushed to the edge of their existence by the tenancy system and high taxes. Socialist Romania, of course, seized on the uprising for its own purposes. Liviu Rebreanu dealt with this trauma in his 1932 novel, which served as the basis for the film. The film depicts the situation of the peasants with powerful imagery, but avoids a simplistic portrayal. The guilt cannot be clearly defined, the fateful outcome is predetermined.