Reconstruction (film)
Encyclopedia
Reconstruction is a 2001 documentary
made by Irene Lusztig that investigates the Ioanid Gang
bank heist committed in 1959 in Communist Romania
. The film focuses on Monica Sevianu, Lusztig's grandmother, and the only female involved in the heist.
The documentary gets its name from a propaganda film
that was made by the Romanian government three years after the robbery was committed. The original Reconstruction was a strange blend of documentary and fiction
, where the criminals played themselves in a crime-film whose plot was driven by clues that self-congratulatory detectives pieced together. The propaganda film was only screened to journalists and high ranking communist officials before being buried beneath government files. Lusztig managed to find a copy and incorporates clips into her documentary.
, news clips from the postwar era, and personal family interviews are complied in order to make sense of her grandmother's criminal behavior. But, unlike a typical crime-thriller, the real-life criminal is complicated and can't be fully understood from a few pieces of evidence and an extorted confession.
By 1959 it was clear that the utopia
communism had promised Romania was not going to be a reality. Antisemitism, which had been boiling since before the war, continued to pose as a threat, and the suspicion and distrust of the communist age effected the entire nation. Monica and her husband Gugu, who also participated in the robbery, had been communist supporters who were abandoned and abused by the government as soon as it came to power.
Lusztig's documentary speculates that government's oppression and antisemitism encouraged their criminal behavior. Having given up on their hopes for a government they believed in, Monica and her husband turned to adventure and pleasure seeking. With the money she stole, before her arrest, Monica bought a pleated gray skirt and an orange angora sweater. Material pleasures offered happiness and certainty that the government had taken from her.
With a tone of uncertainty Lusztig tries to sort through the rumors that surround the crime in hopes of discovering what really happened. Were the criminals going to give the money to poor Jews
in their community? Were they going to fly away and escape to Israel
? Or, perhaps, was the crime staged by the communist government to encourage antisemitism? Surprises and twists unfold in the process to unveil the truth.
Reconstruction received the following awards:
, and film scholars at Harvard and Berkley
. It has been hailed as "an example of personal documentary at its best."
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
made by Irene Lusztig that investigates the Ioanid Gang
Ioanid Gang
The Ioanid Gang was a group in Communist Romania named after two of its members, Alexandru and Paul Ioanid. On July 28, 1959, they allegedly carried out the most famous bank robbery ever to have occurred inside a Communist state.-Timeline:...
bank heist committed in 1959 in Communist Romania
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
. The film focuses on Monica Sevianu, Lusztig's grandmother, and the only female involved in the heist.
The documentary gets its name from a propaganda film
Propaganda film
The term propaganda can be defined as the ability to produce and spread fertile messages that, once sown, will germinate in large human cultures.” However, in the 20th century, a “new” propaganda emerged, which revolved around political organizations and their need to communicate messages that...
that was made by the Romanian government three years after the robbery was committed. The original Reconstruction was a strange blend of documentary and fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
, where the criminals played themselves in a crime-film whose plot was driven by clues that self-congratulatory detectives pieced together. The propaganda film was only screened to journalists and high ranking communist officials before being buried beneath government files. Lusztig managed to find a copy and incorporates clips into her documentary.
Summary
Exploring her dark family secret, Lusztig blends Romania's history with her personal history. Modern footage of BucharestBucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, news clips from the postwar era, and personal family interviews are complied in order to make sense of her grandmother's criminal behavior. But, unlike a typical crime-thriller, the real-life criminal is complicated and can't be fully understood from a few pieces of evidence and an extorted confession.
By 1959 it was clear that the utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
communism had promised Romania was not going to be a reality. Antisemitism, which had been boiling since before the war, continued to pose as a threat, and the suspicion and distrust of the communist age effected the entire nation. Monica and her husband Gugu, who also participated in the robbery, had been communist supporters who were abandoned and abused by the government as soon as it came to power.
Lusztig's documentary speculates that government's oppression and antisemitism encouraged their criminal behavior. Having given up on their hopes for a government they believed in, Monica and her husband turned to adventure and pleasure seeking. With the money she stole, before her arrest, Monica bought a pleated gray skirt and an orange angora sweater. Material pleasures offered happiness and certainty that the government had taken from her.
With a tone of uncertainty Lusztig tries to sort through the rumors that surround the crime in hopes of discovering what really happened. Were the criminals going to give the money to poor Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
in their community? Were they going to fly away and escape to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
? Or, perhaps, was the crime staged by the communist government to encourage antisemitism? Surprises and twists unfold in the process to unveil the truth.
Production
- Lusztig was eleven or twelve-years-old when her mother told her about her grandmother's dark past. Before then, it had remained a well kept secret. Lusztig did not know her grandmother. She only met her twice. She says her inspiration for constructing a film around an absent female protagonist came from GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
writer Heinrich BöllHeinrich BöllHeinrich Theodor Böll was one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers. Böll was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize in 1967 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972.- Biography :...
in his novel "Group Portrait With LadyGroup Portrait with LadyGroup Portrait with Lady is a novel by Nobel prize winning author Heinrich Böll, published in 1971. The novel centers around a woman named Leni, and her friends, foes, lovers, employers and others and in the end tells the stories of all these people in a small city in western Germany in the 1930s...
."
- Lusztig's editing and filming draws from Dusan MakavejevDušan MakavejevDušan Makavejev is a Serbian film director and screenwriter, famous for his groundbreaking films of Yugoslav cinema in the late 1960s and early 1970s...
, believing that a filmmaker should trust his/her intuition and can make connections between seemingly unconnected images.
Film festivals and awards
Reconstruction was screeened at a number of film festivals including:- Vancouver International Film FestivalVancouver International Film FestivalThe Vancouver International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for two weeks in late September and early October...
- Docaviv Documentary Film Festival
- It's All True São Paulo Documentary Film Festival
- Singapore International Film FestivalSingapore International Film FestivalThe Singapore International Film Festival was launched in 1987. The festival is an annual film event, held around April/May each year, and screens about 300 films from over 45 countries...
- Cleveland International Film FestivalCleveland International Film FestivalThe Cleveland International Film Festival, first held in 1977, is the largest film festival in Ohio. The 2010 festival featured over 300 films. Since 1991 the festival has been held at Tower City Cinemas in downtown Cleveland.-Roxanne T...
- Documentary Fortnight, Museum of Modern ArtMuseum of Modern ArtThe Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
, NY - BostonBostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
International Women's Film Festival - Atlanta Film Festival
- Palic International Film Festival SerbiaSerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
- Alpe Adria Cinema Film Festival ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
- New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Jewish Women Film Festival
Reconstruction received the following awards:
- FIPRESCI Jury Nomination- from IDFA AmsterdamAmsterdamAmsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
International Documentary Festival - Certificate of Merit- from San Francisco International Film Festival
- "Rediscoveries/Discoveries" Award- from the Boston Society of Film CriticsBoston Society of Film CriticsThe Boston Society of Film Critics is an organization of film reviewers from Boston, Massachusetts, United States, based publications.The BSFC was formed in 1981 to make "Boston's unique critical perspective heard on a national and international level by awarding commendations to the best of the...
- Best Documentary- at the New EnglandNew EnglandNew England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
Film Festival
Reception
Reconstruction received praise from the Boston Phoenix, VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, and film scholars at Harvard and Berkley
Berkley
- Places :United Kingdom* Berkley, SomersetUnited States* Berkley, Colorado* Berkley, Iowa* Berkley, Maryland* Berkley, Massachusetts* Berkley, Michigan* Berkley, Virginia, formerly a town, and now a neighborhood in Norfolk, Virginia...
. It has been hailed as "an example of personal documentary at its best."
See also
- Ioanid GangIoanid GangThe Ioanid Gang was a group in Communist Romania named after two of its members, Alexandru and Paul Ioanid. On July 28, 1959, they allegedly carried out the most famous bank robbery ever to have occurred inside a Communist state.-Timeline:...
- RomaniaRomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
- Criticisms of Communist party ruleCriticisms of Communist party ruleCriticisms of communist party rule have been known since the first days of the first communist government in Soviet Russia, established after the October Revolution of 1917.-Background:...
- bank robberies
- propaganda filmsPropaganda FilmsPropaganda Films was a prolific and successful music video and film production company founded in 1983 by producers Steve Golin and Sigurjón Sighvatsson and directors David Fincher, Nigel Dick, Greg Gold and Dominic Sena...
- Marele jaf communist ("The Great Communist Robbery"), a later documentary also on the Ioanid Gang.
Documentaries about other singular Jewish women
- Queen of the MountainQueen of the MountainQueen of the Mountain is a 2005 documentary about Theresa Goell, a middle-aged Jewish mother from Brooklyn who, in 1947, left her husband and son to dig beneath the Sanctuary of Nemrud Dagh...
- Marion's TriumphMarion's TriumphMarion's Triumph is a 2003 documentary that tells the story of Marion Blumenthal Lazan, a child Holocaust survivor, who recounts her painful childhood memories in order to preserve history. The film combines rare historic footage, animated flashbacks, and family photographs to illustrate the...
- Pola's MarchPola's MarchPola's March is a 2001 documentary made by Jonathan Gruber about a Holocaust survivor, Pola Susswein's emotional trip back to her childhood home in Poland after fifty years spent in Israel, trying to forget her painful past.-Summary:...