The Paper Will Be Blue

The Paper Will Be Blue is one of the three - all very different - Romanian films shown at this year’s festival that deal with the historical days of the fall of Ceausescu and the Romanian revolution in 1989. The director’s original inspiration came from a real tragic event that took place during this period one night. As often is the case during these kinds of unrestrained actions, there is a lot of chaos and people die because it is difficult to tell who is a real enemy.
An armored squad of the Ministry of Interior is ordered to patrol the suburbs of Bucharest with their tank, when they accidentally hear about movements of anti-Causescu forces in the national TV building. This causes an inevitable dilemma for the soldiers, as they are trapped between their professional duties and their civilian will to go and help bring down the regime. One of them, Costi, chooses for himself and leaves the squad. The rest of his unit starts searching for him in the night.
In a realistic and almost authentic way the film shows a night of madness in which soldiers receive orders via TV from poets and actors. One specific night of madness in a state of war, anarchy and confusion. It is a story about the loss of innocence, popular rebellion, as well as solidarity. (LC)