An epic fresco depicting the reign (1593-1601) of Mihai Pătrașcu (better known as "Mihai Viteazul" / "Michael the Brave"), the famous prince who united the three provinces: Transalpine Vallachia, Transylvania and Moldavia, into the country of Romania, at the end of the 16th century (1599-1601) against the opposition of the Ottoman and Austrian Empires, this movie features large scale battle scenes mixed with political intrigues, murderous treachery, and family drama.
The great King of Dacia, Decebal (Decebalus), is disposed to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to keep the integrity of his people. His own son, Cotyso, is given to the god Zamolxis to the dismay of the King and his daughter Meda. Septimius Severus, a young Roman devoted to his adopted country, must make the choice between his blood origins and the culture he was introduced to.
A Roman noble, Cethegus, tries to start a war, setting the Ostrogoths and their Queen, Amalasuntha, against the Byzantine Emperor Justinian; Cethegus wants to swoop in after they have destroyed each other and create a new Roman Empire from their combined kingdoms; however, he does not factor into his plans the vagaries of love and the personal integrity of the people in both kingdoms.
Ciulei’s second feature recalls the best of Fritz Lang and Michael Curtiz in its WWII-era espionage tale, set on a barge transporting Nazi munitions up the Danube. Ciulei himself givers a superb performance as Mihai, the barge captain forced to navigate the heavily mined waters along with his new bride, Ana (Irina Petrescu). As the journey wears on, Mihai becomes increasingly suspicious of one of his crew, ex-convict Toma (Lazar Vrabie), and his intentions towards Ana. But Toma has a far graver—and potentially deadly—secret to conceal.
Péter and Pál, two notorious skirt hunters competing in wooing Oana, a pretty Romanian girl on the beach at Tihany. A couple of days later the girl gets a telegram saying that she has to leave for Bucharest immediately. The party - which has increased with Piri, the interpreter, and Ági, the hitch-hiker - gets to a Romanian village by Peter's ramshackle car, a 1921 Colymne. The car, however, breaks down.
A group of geologists are in a prospecting expedition. Their personalities are explored as well.
In 19th century Wallachia war-bands of Ottoman Turks from across the Danube river raid Wallachia with impunity while Wallachia's Phanariote rulers don't oppose them.
An ex-convict struggles to survive by brute force alone in a turn-of-the-century slum in Bucharest. Codine is the thug who served 10 years for murdering a friend. He returns home to his miserly mother, whose penny-pinching ways infuriate her son. A young boy looks up to Codine, and through the man's eyes he sees the economic and social injustices from an adult perspective. When Codine kills another man who violated his trust, his mother becomes more unhinged and paranoid. Thinking her son will steal her hoarded money, she plots to kill her only son. The impressionable child watches in horror and amazement at the cruel machinations of the adult work that surrounds him.
A desperate husband chases a bus full of beautiful women headed for Paris, France.
The end of Trajan's Dacian Wars (106 AD), when south western Dacia was transformed into a Roman province: Roman Dacia.
In this monumental Romanian film, a large family and its many generations vie for advantage, seeking to win the inheritance sure to be left behind by a wealthy older man of the clan. This movie is based on a popular novel by George Calinescu, and is similar in some ways to England's BBC television series, The Forsythe Saga, based on Galsworthy's books. Along the way, stories of friendship, love and rivalry emerge. In one story, a poor young man is disappointed in love as his girl chooses lucre over love in selecting a mate.
Two cooperativists exploit a pond for fish and frogs outside their institutions circuit. Until a youth with socialist expanding ideals comes with the initiative to drain it and use the land for grains. They hatch a plan to make the pond a natural monument, so an expert is summoned, but foolish beliefs betray them.
In the winter of 1933, an illegalist (a communist, member of a political party a party outlawed at the time) assumes the mission of a wounded colleague to transmit a secret message.
A story of an apolitical police commissar who is using odd methods against the gangsters.
Attorney Constantin Lipan (Geo Barton) is tasked to investigate the case of an oil magnate, Iordan Hagi-Iordan (George Calboreanu). This will put pressure on his superiors to drop the case. Based on "Calea Victoriei" novel by Cezar Petrescu.
A psychological movie about the life of three sisters in a Romanian village.
Depicts Romania during World War II, focusing on the Royal Coup that toppled Ion Antonescu, the Axis-allied Conducător and authoritarian Prime Minister. Focused around the August 23rd 1944 coup against Marshal Antonescu, the movie also tackles other topics from the same era such as the Iron Guard rebellion and the execution of political leaders by communists.
When a rich Romanian lawyer aims to find his 2 long-lost sons and inheritors he places an ad in the newspaper but many crooks show up instead.
The out-of-time ambiance of Sulina/Europolis between wars is shaken up by the arrival of a former local from America.
