BBC Four: Do you have any personal theories about why the robbery
happened, or the events surrounding it?
Alexandru Solomon: As the film unfolds, I tried to explore all the
possible theories. But in the end, it is more important to
understand there is no ultimate truth left after 45 years of
propaganda. Besides, to me, there is no logical explanation. As I
say in the commentary I think despair leads people to the kind of
gestures that aren't logical at all. One theory that I would stick
to is that these people were so desperate that their choice was to
make such a spectacular event happen, as a way to express their
protest against the system. That's also exactly as the system took
it, as a blow against the regime.
BBC Four: It's important to mention that the perpetrators were
Jewish and their desperation you mention stemmed from anti-Semitism.
Can you discuss that a little?
AS: For me, as a Romanian of Jewish origin, it was important to talk
about those times. You hear so often in my country and the Eastern
European countries that it was the Jews who brought Communism to
Eastern Europe. It's a way to blame others than the "pure" nationals.
Of course many of them did support the system, because after the
fascist dictatorship there wasn't much left to support. So many Jews
did support the Communists in Romania, but eventually the Communist
regime turned against them. The end of the 1950s, the time of this
story, is that precise moment when the Communist regime in Romania
became openly anti-Semitic and nationalist.
BBC Four: How well known is the story of the robbery in Romania?
AS: It is well-known by the generation that lived it, in the 1960s.
Everybody knew it. Even if it wasn't written in the press, just
because of the film, everybody heard the rumours.
BBC Four: How did you find out about the story?
AS: I first heard about it from some friends of my mother's. I then
started looking further into the story and found some newspaper
articles about the case. Then I saw the archive film, which is
probably the main thing that made me do my film.
BBC Four: What was it about the story and the reconstruction film
that particularly appealed to you?
AS: I think it is the mixture of reality and propaganda fiction.
It's also because the old reconstruction film implies the broader
theme of documentary-filmmaking. Where does it start and where does
it end? If you start manipulating people in a so-called documentary,
what is your responsibility as a filmmaker in doing that?
BBC Four: One of the interviewees asks that question to you during
the film...
AS: That's right. He said to me, "You're doing the reconstruction of
a reconstruction!" In a way I'm in a position that is parallel to
those making the original film. The difference is in the approach:
I de-construct a reconstruction. I place the old film as a mirror in front of them to make them look at what they did.
I wanted to confront them with the reality of those times and of
this case, and of the whole manipulation that it generated.
BBC Four: Were their reactions to your questions what you expected?
AS: More or less. What's surprising is to see that most of the
people, the ones that were part of the state and party apparatus,
still hold the same convictions and beliefs that they had back then.
That explains in a way why Romania is how it is today and I think
that's why it's still a contemporary story.
BBC Four: Looking back on the era yourself in such detail, what
light did it shed on your perception of that period?
AS: I grew up at the end of the Communist regime, and the story that
I'm telling is at the beginning of the Communist regime. What's
amazing is that it was so easy to become a tool of manipulation and
repression. I was fascinated about how this story reveals Communism
as a fiction (call it utopia) imposed upon reality by all means, and
mainly by force. What else is the 'Reconstruction' film?
The main characters themselves were part of that system up to a
point to which they started to reflect on it. They rejected it and
wanted to take revenge against that system. It's an amazing period,
because it shows how easy it is to get caught up in it all, and also
shows a mixture of cruelty and stupidity at a certain level. If you
watch the way that the investigation was led, that mixture together
gives a tragi-comic dimension to it.
BBC Four: How did you approach the material? It's such a bizarre
story, were you cautious about the tone of the film?
AS: It's very delicate because people died, and it's obviously
tragic, but on the other hand Communism in Romania had this black
humour dimension. I wanted that to be in the film because it's part
of the cruelty of the system too. I think that's one of the
heritages of Communism in Romania, because nobody could do anything
against it, the only thing people could do was to make fun of it. I
wanted that feeling to be part of the film which is why it has some
strange and sarcastic moments in it.
BBC Four: What reaction do you expect from younger people in Romania
to the film?
AS: I hope there will be a reaction. Even if it's a bad reaction at
least it's not apathy. I know that it's a difficult story to hear no
matter which side you are on. It's delicate if you're an old
Communist, it's delicate if you're Jewish and Romanian, it's a story
that provokes and shatters many prejudices. But I think that this
kind of story makes people think in a more open way, which is
beneficial in a country like mine.
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