The Beheaded Rooster/ Cocosul decapitat

Dear all,

As recommended, I watched the movie "The Beheaded Rooster" and I would like to share my impressions on it with you. For the ones who haven't seen it yet, it is a Romanian movie whose action takes place in Transylvania between 1940-1944. It is mainly about the changes in the daily life of the multicultural town of Fagaras during this timeframe.

Fagaras was at that time inhabited besides Romanians, by Germans, Hungarians, Jews and Rroma minorities. The co-vival among cultures is disrupted by the Second World War and the population who adopted the Nazi theory of disregarding Jews and Rroma. The movie follows the friendship among a four main characters (Felix Goldschmidt, Gisela Glückselig, Alfa Siegrid Binder and Hans Adolf Bediner).

Felix Goldschmidt is the son of a middle class German family who immigrated to Fagaras 800 years ago. The plot shows the changes in attitude that Felix lives through (from being neutral to embracing the Nazi dogma and then fighting against it).
Gisela Glückselig is the daugther of a Jewish family who owns the cinema in Fagaras. The movie shows the oppression and exclusion that this family has been through between 1940-1944 and the stains left in each person's inner self.
Alfa Siegrid Binder has royal roots and this high social position gives her authority and secures her respect in the town.
Hans Adolf is the son of a low class family. His father works for the Felix's and Alfa Siegrid's families. This character shows how the Nazi ideology makes its way into a young man's head and leads him towards irational actions and turns him against his friends from childhood.

After having summarized the movie, it's time to make a short comment about it and analyze 3 aspects:
1) Quality of images - the captured landscape is beautiful. Besides this, the director captures typical Transylvanian scenery and shows the complexity and the several offers for spending the spare time that a small town in Transylvania offerred. This is a good comparison with the situation today, showing the decadence that the town has been through during this time. For this the movie gets my highest mark.
2) Quality of the scenery - the movie is not tight well and the action does not always flow smoothly. Therefore, I give it only a passing mark here.
3) Description of characters - the characters have been thoroughly described looking at different aspect (gender, social status, inner development). For this, the movie gets a good mark.

Overall, I would recommend to watch the movie not only for its landscape if you are interested in visiting Transylvania, but also if you are passioned about history and want to learn how a small town in Romania perceived the Second World War.