Closer to the Moon (2014)

A Romanian police officer teams up with a small crew of old friends from the World War II Jewish Resistance to pull off a heist by convincing everyone at the scene of the crime that they are only filming a movie.

Director:

Nae Caranfil

Writer:

Nae Caranfil

Stars:

Vera Farmiga, Mark Strong, Harry Lloyd

9 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vera Farmiga	...	Alice
Mark Strong	...	Max
Harry Lloyd	...	Virgil
Anton Lesser	...	Holban
Joe Armstrong	...	Razvan
Christian McKay	...	Iorgu
Tim Plester	...	Dumi
Darrell D'Silva	...	Minister
David de Keyser	...	Moritz
Frances Cuka	...	Sarah
Marcin Walewski	...	Mirel
Allan Corduner	...	Flaviu
Monica Barladeanu	...	Sonia (as Monica Birladeanu)
Paul Jesson	...	Studio Manager
John Henshaw	...	Judge

Storyline

Bucharest 1959. A spectacular Bank heist has the country in an uproar. In post-war Communist Romania it is an unimaginable slap in the face to the iron fisted authorities. Four men and a woman are arrested, tried, convicted and while waiting for their execution... are forced to star in a propaganda film about the crime. All five protagonists were heroes of the resistance during the Second World War and highly placed members of Romanian society. They clearly knew they would be caught and executed.

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Plot Keywords:

romanian | police officer | year 1959 | bucharest romania | post world war two | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Romania USA Italy Poland France

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 April 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gang Rosenthala

Filming Locations:

Romania

Box Office

Budget:

EUR4,400,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Agresywna Banda, Denis Friedman Productions, Mandragora Movies

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Nae Caranfil on the historical background and his research: "...usually I don't do very much research. I rely on my imagination but this time, I tried to get every bit of information I could. The best thing I did, in a way, was to get hold of some Israeli Romanian language magazines published in Tel Aviv where they made a whole file over three or four editions of the events with people that were remembering things in very different ways. So, I got very different angles on this story and then, aside from the documentary film [Great Communist Bank Robbery (2004)] made by Alexandru Solomon, I saw another documentary film [Reconstruction (2002)] of which nobody knew in Romania, made by the woman's granddaughter [Irene Lusztig]. She's living in New York and she came to Bucharest in 1999 and made a documentary about her grandmother." [2014]

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Quotes

Title Card: During World War II, the anti-Nazi resistance in Romania was mainly organized by the Communist Party.
Title Card: A number of young Jews joined the cause, believing their freedom would come from the Soviet Union.
Title Card: The Red Army didn't free, but enslaved the country, along with the whole Eastern and Central Europe. An iron-fist regime was installed.
Title Card: Former Jewish partisans became part of the governing elite.
Title Card: Their positions started to erode until, by the last years of the 50's, they were being systematically ...
[...]

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Connections

Edited from Reconstruction (1960)

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Soundtracks

It's Magic
Music by Sammy Cahn
Lyrics by Jule Styne
Performed by Loredana Groza

User Reviews

The Red Army didn't free, but enslaved the country, along with the whole Eastern and Central Europe. An iron-fist regime was installed.

Vera Farmiga and Mark Strong played Romanian Jewish Communists who along with three others plot to rob the Romanian State Bank, a crime punishable by death. The court and country decide to use the case to teach a lesson in propaganda film. The burglars are acting as themselves in this film. The burglary was more about robbing the bank but anti-Communist. There is a nice romance in the film as well. Vera Farmiga and Mark Strong gave the best performances in the film. I would have liked to know more about it. The film was shot on location abroad.