Opening Night - ”Chuck Norris versus Communism”

What the film intends to prove, according to its director Ilinca Călugăreanu, is the power of the films in our life. Chuck Norris versus Communism, a docudrama with a very catchy title, had its premiere on HBO, which was one of the producers.

The story of the translator (Irina Margareta Nistor) who was dubbing the smuggled films that later were sold all over the country is presented by the heroine`s accounts, by the reenactment of some episodes, using actors (Ana Maria Moldovan and Dan Chiorean), and by a few viewers` nostalgic recalls.
In the `80s, in Romania there was a network - built apparently without the authorities knowing about it – of hundreds of smuggled VHS tapes with films dubbed in Romanian. Tens of this kind of copies of the VHS tapes reached many houses where a VCR existed, which had been acquired with lots of money and by means of “connections”. A true underground business brought a lot of money to those who had VCRs and VHS tapes. People used to gather to watch films and thus, film lovers communities appeared. The most successful films were the “fight” ones. Chuck Norris was one of the most loved heroes. That is why he was chose to “fight the communism”
At the q&a that followed the screening, lead by the film critic Ileana Bârsan, somebody from the audience asked if at Sundance, the festival that supported and financed the project, the Americans sensed the irony of the fight between the B category films and communism. Apparently not. Chuck Norris himself sent Ilinca Călugăreanu a message saying that he felt flattered to have been chosen as a reference. Of course he feels flattered by his role as a symbol in the fight against communism, even if he had never received percentages of the undeclared grosses from the illegal distribution of his films in Romania during those years.
As a breath of fresh air for the people`s discontentment in a country with two hours of TV program, the films were spread in the network with the accept of the authorities, under the protection of the Security. Teodor Zamfir and his friend who was a pilot, the ones who had built the business, had high connections with the party and the secret services hierarchy. Even more, one of the translators, Mircea, was their employee. Everybody was protected.
If the story of the smuggled films had remained in the nostalgic zone of the “films that we used to watch when we were kids” and of the Irina Margareta Nistor`s easily recognizable harsh voice, Chuck Norris vs Communism could have been an interesting documentary. But the conclusion of the film directed by Ilinca Călugăreanu is that those video tapes contributed to the rising of the wish for freedom and to the people going out in the streets in 1989. The changing of the events and of their meanings, in order to fit the title takes it from the “documentary” category and sends it to the “fiction” one.

The director`s thesis is that the film was made in order to prove the power of films.

More producers sensed the commercial potential of the project, so they invested in it. Mara Adina Călugăreanu, Ilinca`s sister, is the one who put together many important investors.