Colectivizarea agriculturii în viziunea cinematografiei româneşti
The Socialist Transformation of Agriculture in the Vision of Romanian Cinema

Summary/Abstract: The first aspect that ought to be consider regards the actual way in which this historical process that accompanied the enforcement of communism in Romania was regarded. In this respect, we would consider two temporary perspectives: the former runs parallel with the enforcement of the newly invented directions aimed at transforming agriculture into a socialist one, while the latter benefits from hindsight and overlaps the “golden age” instituted by Nicolae Ceauşescu. The films shot from 1950 to 1962 (running parallel to the actual process of collectivization) are highly ideological in content, consonant with the Party directives they were subjected to. In “Our Village” (1950), “Mitrea Cocor” (1952), “The Unfolding” (1954), “The Thirst” (1960) and “When Spring is hot” (1961) are patterned on the toughness of the conflict between the kulaks and the peasants supported by the communist activists in order for them to take control of the land. The victory rests obviously with the latter, and the above mentioned films underline the satisfaction of the outcasts when justice is done. After the final steps of collectivization, which was largely advertised in the spring of 1962, there were less ideological messages of the kind in films. Most new films focused on the socialist organization of agriculture taken from the USSR. This was the environment against which a series of scripts were created, referring to potential situations in the lives of rural community members. There were references to collectivization in films such as: “The Treasure in the Old Ford” (1964), “The snowstorm” (1973), “Beyond the Sands” (1973), “The Prodigal Father” (1974) and “The Fox-Hunt” (1980). A second aspect worth mentioning relates to the literary background of the above-mentioned films. Most of them were inspired by writings more or less commissioned of the Party propaganda. The first temporal slot is well represented in this respect: the scripts of “Mitrea Cocor” and “The Thirst” are based on the homonymous novels by Mihail Sadoveanu and Titus Popovici, „In our Village” and „The Unfolding” is based on short-stories by Petru Dumitriu and Marin Preda. A similar situation occurred in films shot after the “successful” concluding of collectivization, with literary works as the source of films. The third aspect refers to the actor performance at respective films. Along with some apparently sketchy scripts that do not require a great effort, there are some great performances by renowned actors of the domestic stage: Ilarion Ciobanu – with the part Mitru Moţ in “The Thirst”; Ştefan Mihăilescu-Brăila (Prisac the kulak) and Ion Caramitru (Ion the farm hand) in “The Treasure in the Old Ford”; Toma Caragiu (Oaie the peasant) in „The Prodigal Father” and Mitică Popescu (Năiţă) in “The Fox Hunt”.

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