Carbon (II) (2022) User Reviews

Satire and war

[mircea_melinte · 9/10 · 29 December 2022]

There has been little written about the armed conflict on the Dniester river in 1992 after the breakup of USSR. This movie aims to show in details the reality that surrounded this conflict, by presenting the story of some villagers appearing randomly throughout the opening scenes. What follows is an interesting story with these people and how the conflict has impacted their lives for better or for worse.

The acting is truly amazing, the attention to details when setting up the scenes is definitely worth appreciating.

However, there are minor flaws worth mentioning. First of all, the captioning for scenes in Russian was missing, putting some of the audience in somewhat of a disadvantage. Second, some historical inaccuracies were also there, for instance the celebration of the independence day of the Republic of Moldova (27th of August) and the mentioning of the end of conflict on the same day (although the latter happens on the 21st of July).

Nevertheless, absolutely worth the watch, there are tons of details about the event to enjoy.

A curious story during a war...

[Alecs715 · 10/10 · 23 October 2022]

Nice dramedy which shows the living, habits and mentality of moldavans in a certain village nearby the war site in the summer of 1992. It lightly slides to tragicomedy.. or at least to a bittersweet comedy. It is like a mirror for us, modovans, where we can see the way we were, and realizing that not much progress was done for the last 30 years in this area. The same split society, the same speech and people problems. The common thing and the one producers focused on is the humanity of the main characters. Humanity during a war.

The comedy part starts with the vivid characters. A big part of them represent the most important people in a typical village: the mayor, the policeman, the doctor and the priest). So they all are busy by managing their own interests and ignoring a problem. A real proof of carelessness in a link of bureaucracy. Which brings lot of fun.

It hits perfectly the jokes/lines characters make/have during the film, so the movie is pretty entertaining.

Ion Bors did a very good job as a director, taking nice shooting angles, and picking the right colors. The decorations and all the details were nicely chosen as well, in accordance to that period of time. Pretty authentic atmosphere.

Dumitru Marian plays so natural, as always. And all the cast members had a really good job. I rated the movie with the highest grade and certainly recommend it to all.

Soviet Trauma, EU, Corruption

[dor4k · 10/10 · 31 October 2022]

This film is about the trauma that post-Soviet countries carry with them.

The USSR, although it is dead, and it is a dead body already carbonised, we carry it with us everywhere.

We want to bury it, to forget this past, but we cannot move forward because of corruption. People put in high positions have no time for reforms. They are busy with everything but their responsibilities. Instead of dealing with reforms, with burying the past, we, Moldovans, are waiting for these "good times" (Reference to the "PAS" political party).

Also, when the Russians threaten us (with gas,war), we begin to worship this dead body (USSR), along with them (the church scene).

And although Moldova escaped the Soviet occupation, the tricolor, symbolically, still has Soviet symbols on it, the Independence Day begins with Russian words ("seven, seven, seven" in russian), the songs sung are about the "friendship of nations".

By escaping the USSR, we were given the key to freedom, but we still don't know where to go.