I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians

(Îmi este indiferent daca în istorie vom intra ca barbar, Radu Jude, Romania/Germany/Bulgaria/France/Czech Republic 2018, 140 min., DCP, Romanian, French, German, English, and Spanish w/ English subtitles)

Romanian director Radu Jude has been creating provocative and moving films for nearly twenty years. In this tradition, he has fashioned a moving image referendum on Romania’s violent past of ethnic cleansing. The title refers to a speech military dictator Ion Antonescu gave at the council of ministers in the summer of 1941. In the film, a young director (Ioana Iacob) is asked to stage a public performance relating to Romanian history. When she chooses to re-enact the massacre of thousands of Jews at the hands of the Romanian military, she encounters resistance from the current government. Undeterred, she finds a way to bring this performance to the masses. Jude’s film plays with the documentary form, finding performance in life and genuine reaction to performance, blurring the lines between reality and fiction.