Rote Handschuhe

new Eginald Schlattner novel adaptation. and a new work of Radu Gabrea. touching, dark, impressive, it is a testimony about form of evil. not really convincing because Alexandru Mihăescu is not best option for Felix. his innocence, his naivety are good points but the performance seems to be a line far of nuances. sure, the work is complete as result of impressive presence of Andi Vasluianu and Marcel Iureș. but something missed.and this thing is the essence of profound tragedy itself.result of great good intentions, honest to novel and reality, it is only a drawing. a sketch. correct but not enough. and this fact is not a real sin.because the experience in cruel decade of Stalinism is out of words. and Mănuși roșii is only a confession about guilty, fall and need of reconciliation with yourself. nothing more.

Based on an autobiographical novel by Eginald Schlattner, the film paints Felix as an idealist and fledgling poet, carried away by abstract concepts of transcendent truth that could apply to a wide spectrum of ideologies; he hardly grasps the real world — one suspects he might just as easily have become a Hitler Youth if born a couple of decades earlier. Human relationships also loom mysterious for him, a confusion exacerbated by his repressed homosexuality: He loses his girlfriend (Ioana Iacob) through his inability or unwillingness to sleep with her, but also rejects the overtures of a handsome blond fellow-poet (Peter Nitzsche) with whom he shares a bed.

Lacking understanding of realpolitik, of why he's been arrested or what his captors want, he fails to notice that his cellmate (Andi Vasluianu, excellent), a young worker imprisoned for appropriating his boss' bottle of vodka, is surreptitiously if reluctantly scribbling notes on everything he says. Felix's cluelessness plays into his captors' hands, increasing the effectiveness of their demoralizing techniques, including sleep deprivation.

At first he resists, casting himself in the role of the valiant defender of truth. But gradually the unaccustomed hardships rattle him into obeying blindly, signing transcripts of testimony without reading them. The true coup is administered by Major Blau (Udo Schenk in a tour de force perf), a German-speaking Jew whose genuine revolutionary idealism and utopian vision, delivered with paternalistic military authority, soon have Felix giving authorities much more than he intended.

like in the case of "Cocoșul decapitat", the impression than it could be better is present. like in its case, the certitude than, against its sins, it is an useful film remains fresh. because it is an introduction to the mechanism of Romanian Comunist system. and new level of the death of a world. because Andi Vasluianu and Marcel Iureș are remarkable in theirs roles and this does the young lead actor to conquer the right tone for a too heavy character. a story about dictatorship and injustice. about moral resistance. and about the self definition in the worst context. and, in same measure, a story about survive.