Das Weihnachtsgeschenk

Greetings again from the darkness. Kids say the darndest things. And those letters to Santa Claus might pack a bigger punch than we imagine. It's December 20, 1989 and a father and son are setting up their Christmas tree in their apartment in Romania. History buffs will connect the date with this story and fully recognize the genius in writer-director Bogdan Muresanu's 23 minute film.

During the normal chit-chat with his dad, young Marius mentions that he mailed his letter to Santa today, and it included his Christmas wish ... Uncle Nic to die. Childhood innocence is on display as the boy sincerely thought he was fulfilling his father's wishes - based on what he had heard in his own home. Dad explodes in a rage of fury. He is genuinely frightened for the safety of his family ... to the point that he's willing to break into a post box to steal back his son's letter before it's read.

Of course, all of this makes perfect sense when we learn that Uncle Nic is really Nicolae Ceausescu, General Secretary of the Communist Party in Romania. We as viewers know what the next 24 hours holds, but the father is simply trying to protect his family.

For a Romanian that was just 7 at the time of this action, this story reads incredibly true, and delivers hell in a world where hell was almost everywhere to be found.

Reading would deliver you into "Classified Books", Listening to radio would end up on "Radio Free Europe", TV watching would get you on some "video cassette", meeting friends would drop "jokes about the system, the party or Ceausescu", or even worse, "complotting to overthrow the system", travelling or just going about (only in Romania was available) would deliver you into "meeting with dangerous elements", so why wonder that even writing to Santa (already replaced by Mos Gerila - Santa Blizzard) could give a family serious time in jail, no economic opportunities for the rest of their lives and maybe even a "disappearance".

It may be harder for the new generation to taste it, but for me it delivered a punch the nose.