Veni, Vidi, Fugi: I came, I saw, I fled

As a kid I from India, I remember reading newspaper reports about Ceausescu. Romania seemed like a distant country, I wanted to know more but about thirty years ago there was not much I could read. Thanks to Robert Eugen Popa's film Veni, Vedi, Fugi. I know more about what was happening in Romania in the eighties. The first shot of the film shows a Roman historical character, which I later discover is Ovid. Film draws parallel between two characters a poet and a young boy who are separated by two thousand years. The young boy wants to leave his country while, Ovid is already out of his country, in exile. The film is about the challenges faced by young boy in a communist regime, from his school principal to loan sharks, everyone lays obstacles in his path.

The film has a complex structure, an implacable irony that dominated the Golden eras (Ceausescu's in the 1980's and Emperor Augustus's 2000 years ago) .This film is a reflection of Romanian society in the days of communist dictatorship. The name of Ceausescu comes couple of times in the film. I would recommend this film to anyone who wants to know more about Romania

The plot of the film is very interesting. A student under communist regime wants to escape from Romania...same time he meet an exiled poet Ovid from Roman empire who wants to return to Rome (during the dictatorship of Augustus . They comes to an agreement to help each other....This satire has multiple dimensions to explore. Socially, politically, historically the film is multi-layered and intriguing. It presents the repeating forms of dictatorships in different ages of history. It is about power, domination, social engineering and individual's struggle against totalitarianism of the state.

The film maker has done a good job. The historical reality is interwoven with fictional fantasy. The humor rules the all....

The seventh art or muse Clio herself came closer to the viewer to untangle both the strings of some elusive ancient stories that have still kept away the reasons why Ovid was forced to leave Rome for some cold and remote place on The Black Sea Coast and also a young romance sprung mostly from our 'K' – a high school teenager who seems to dance on the rhymes of Ars Amandi. Two separate realities emerge and are very similar for us though initially felt different for 'K' – Rome in Augustus' time could not resemble Romania in the late Communism era yet both were engaged in oppressive actions for controlling their people. Thus, beautifully combined, history and art portray a short span in the life of an adolescent who albeit poor at Latin finds help from an imaginary Ovid who tutors him to unravel the mystery of why the poet had been removed from Rome and succeeds in doing the homework being later unexpectedly commended by the teacher. This short film is humorously speckled with a three- bloke gang, an allusion to a famous concubine in the city of Constanta from the 80's and the petty slang of those days and all these are not far etching from what we remember. Again, the poet akin to the Roman gentry finds the society in this contemporary city of Tomis a clear match for the ruthlessness of the Ancient Empire. Ovid must have desperately needed a way back to Rome but found none while 'K' managed to flee away from communism and won his freedom.

I believe Veni, Vidi, Fugi it's really a very refreshing, new type of comedy (or comedic film as it might not be exactly a classic type of comedy)

There is a realistic treatment of the situations and the Roman poet Publius Ovidio Naso "appears" only as the protagonist who is pushing the always bickering couple credibly into a hilarious "fantasy comedy" zone.

The chromatic is very vivid and intense - especially during the discotheque scenes - thus leading to a sharp contrast with the way in which the Communist dictatorship is usually represented and an intensification of the already hilarious situations.

I was really fascinated with the subject matter and the script's structure and I hope to watch soon other films by the same authors.

The seventh art or muse Clio herself came closer to the viewer to untangle both the strings of some elusive ancient stories that have still kept away the reasons why Ovid was forced to leave Rome for some cold and remote place on The Black Sea Coast and also a young romance sprung mostly from our 'K' – a high school teenager who seems to dance on the rhymes of Ars Amandi. Two separate realities emerge and are very similar for us though initially felt different for 'K' – Rome in Augustus' time could not resemble Romania in the late Communism era yet both were engaged in oppressive actions for controlling their people. Thus, beautifully combined, history and art portray a short span in the life of an adolescent who albeit poor at Latin finds help from an imaginary Ovid who tutors him to unravel the mystery of why the poet had been removed from Rome and succeeds in doing the homework being later unexpectedly commended by the teacher. This short film is humorously speckled with a three-bloke gang, an allusion to a famous concubine in the city of Constanta from the 80's and the petty slang of those days and all these are not far etching from what we remember. Again, the poet akin to the Roman gentry finds the society in this contemporary city of Tomis a clear match for the ruthlessness of the Ancient Empire. Ovid must have desperately needed a way back to Rome but found none while 'K' managed to flee away from communism and won his freedom.