Haiducii (1929)

User Rating:

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Director:

Horia Igirosanu

Genre:

Adventure

Cast

Cristache Antoniu
Ana Ciobanu
Iva Dugan
Sultana Giurascu
Cristian Niculescu
Lucian Stanescu
George Stefanescu

Country:

Romania

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Silent

Soldier boy is a girl, and it gets worse...

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

'Haiducii' is the centrepiece of a trilogy of Roumanian films directed by Horia Igirosanu, dramatising the struggle of the Roumanian people to overthrow the tyrannical Pharinote: the Greek regents installed by the Holy Roman Empire as rulers of Roumania. The first film in the triptych is 'Iancu Jlanu' (1928); the conclusion is 'Cioceii' (1931). I saw 'Haiducii' in July 1996 at the Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna; they screened a print with the original intertitles, from Roumania's Arhiva Nationala de Filme.

This one movie in the trilogy covers events from 1812 through 1817, with the revolution of 1821 left for the third film to cover. Much of the action in 'Haiducii' is seen from the viewpoint of two young Roumanian sisters, Ileana (Ana Ciobanu) and Victorita (Iva Dugan). When Ileana is kidnapped by the Pharinote, Victorita disguises herself as a boy and takes the name Mihaita, then tries to rescue her sister by infiltrating the cadre of soldiers commanded by Mereanu (Cristache Antoniu), a haiduco. Actor Cristian Niculescu is good as Vulpe, a rival haiduco.

The Pharinote have seized the inn owned by Tunsu (portrayed by the one-named actor Titiandrescu), and they use this as their headquarters. Tunsu, enraged, joins the struggle to overthrow the regents. Eventually, after fighting alongside the 'boy' Mihaita, Mereanu discovers that he's actually a girl named Victorita. The two promptly fall in love, not forgetting their struggle for political freedom.

Oh, goulash! I found this movie deeply unsatisfying. Part of the problem is that this is, after all, the middle section of a trilogy ... so I've come into some material in mid-progress, and other plot points are left hanging for the conclusion.

Fair enough, except that this movie is unsatisfying for other reasons as well. I confess that I know absolutely nowt about this chapter in Roumanian history, yet I get a very strong sensation that Ileana and Victorita, as well as several other characters here, are outright fictional characters, or composites at best. I've never objected to the device of placing fictional characters in actual historical events (I've done this myself, as a novelist), but it bothers me very much when the fictional characters start controlling those events, for instance when they're shown here winning battles that actually were won and lost by real-life individuals.

This film is made even more ludicrous by the device of Victorita fighting alongside Mereanu whilst disguised as a boy. Mereanu is entirely fooled, which raises questions about his perceptive abilities, and he accepts this 'boy' as a valid comrade-at-arms. But as soon as Mereanu learns the truth about Victorita, he is attracted to her so quickly that I can't help wondering if he'd had any of those same feelings for her when he thought she was a boy.

Normally, when I've seen only a portion of a film, I shan't rate it. In this case, I've seen only one-third of a trilogy ... but each movie in the trilogy was released separately and was meant to stand on its own merits, so 'Haiducii' is to some extent a complete and self-contained entity. If the other two instalments are as implausible and chaotic as this one, then all three are very bad indeed.

I realise that some Roumanians (or some people of Roumanian descent) will be angered that I have so little esteem for a movie about a crucial period in that nation's history. The reason I dislike this movie so much is not due to any antipathy towards the Roumanians, but because this film's Roumanian director has done such a very bad job of dramatising that material. I'll rate 'Haiducii' just one point in ten.