Watch Tales from the Golden Age

Tales from the Golden Age is a 2009 Romanian movie that gives us a glimpse into the absurdity of life under the oppressive regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu, the Communist dictator who ruled Romania from 1965 to 1989. The movie, directed by Cristian Mungiu and co-written by him and several other writers, is divided into five episodes, each of which is a fictionalized re-enactment of a popular urban legend that circulated during Ceaușescu's reign.

The first episode, entitled "The Legend of the Party Photographer," tells the story of a photographer who is assigned by the Communist Party to take pictures of the happy workers who are building a new town. But when he arrives at the site, he discovers that the site is empty, and the workers are all playing cards and drinking beer in a nearby village.

The second episode, "The Legend of the Official Visit," follows the preparations for an official visit by Ceaușescu to a small village. The villagers are instructed to whitewash their houses and plant flowers, but they soon discover that the dictator will only be passing through the village and won't be stopping to inspect their work.

The third episode, "The Legend of the Chicken Driver," tells the story of a truck driver who is tasked with transporting a truckload of live chickens to the city. When the chickens start to interfere with his driving, he decides to teach them a lesson by turning the truck around and driving them back to the farm.

The fourth episode, "The Legend of the Air Sellers," is about a group of young boys who decide to make money by selling bottles of air that they have collected from a spot near the Romanian-Hungarian border. Their enterprise is brought to an abrupt end when the Communist Party declares that the air must be nationalized.

The fifth and final episode, "The Legend of the Greedy Policeman," is about a corrupt police officer who decides to take advantage of the food rationing system to make some extra money. He steals food from his neighbors and sells it on the black market, but his scheme is uncovered when one of his victims catches him in the act.

While each episode is distinct, they are all linked by a common tone of absurdity and dark humor. The movie paints a vivid picture of life under the Communist regime, where nothing was as it seemed and everyday life was filled with contradictions and challenges.

The acting in the movie is uniformly excellent, with standout performances from Diana Cavallioti as a farmer's wife in "The Legend of the Chicken Driver," Radu Iacoban as a Party photographer in "The Legend of the Party Photographer," and Vlad Ivanov as the greedy policeman in "The Legend of the Greedy Policeman."

The cinematography is also impressive, with the movie capturing both the bleakness of life in small-town Romania and the vibrant energy of the urban areas. The music is sparse but effective, with a minimalist score that heightens the tension and emphasizes the absurdity of the situations.

Overall, Tales from the Golden Age is a must-see movie for anyone interested in Eastern European history or just looking for a unique perspective on life under a totalitarian regime. The movie succeeds in capturing the essence of the era and presenting it in a way that is both entertaining and thought-provoking.

Tales from the Golden Age is a 2011 comedy with a runtime of 2 hours and 18 minutes. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 7.8 and a MetaScore of 68.