Mao Ce Dun

Although, the directing and some of the actor play may require a bit more attention, this is a brilliant film! I cannot but disagree with Tom of UK - it is how this story ends that is the gem making it so uniquely good! This film is such an insightful and multifaceted satire on our recent past that I think it will be loved in all postcommunist countries.

A little explanation: The men required to build communism in the Balkan region were heirs of societies still somewhere on the verge between traditional society and capitalism. Naturally, for these people the great ideas of social justice quickly degenerated into rather provincial worries about personal status, gaining 'material comforts' (money wasn't of much use in that system but there were 'comforts'), or moving up in the newly evolved social hierarchy of the socialist state. In fact, these are worries quite similar to the preoccupations of the petty bourgeoisie as criticised by earlier artists in the West.

In the fictitious story of 'Mao-Ce-Dun', the traditionally outcast gypsy community learns how to exploit the Socialist system of authority in order to gain many small benefits. The film's brilliance is that this is the story of any communist citizen, however here it is taken to the grotesque thanks to the straightforward and colourful mindset of the gypsy. Also, in a typical gypsy fashion Mao's father becomes a convinced communist, one that is more enthusiastic than the communist officials in the town. This leads to the end scene that also is a commentary on the grim factual history of those times.

An endearing comedy about a roma gypsy named Hekuran who lives on a gypsy camp in Albania during the reign of the 1970's communist government, he names his ninth child Mao-ce-dun, at first he is met with anger by the party as it is not a conventional Albanian name, but after he writes to the Chinese embassy, they show an interest and the party, eager to maintain a good relationship with China, award Hekuran with luxuries he has never before experienced. He learns to manipulate the party, but takes a greater interest in communism as the film develops, it is never clear whether he is manipulating the party for his own means, or he has just misunderstood the way communism works and merely wants to be a functioning member of communist society. By bringing his family into the world of politics, he puts himself and the security of his gypsy community in danger. Not just a critique of communism but also of hypocrisy and international political relations in general. The simple characters are easy to love, and their uncertain future weighs heavy on the mind of the audience, but the ending is unremarkable, unskillfully portrayed and would have benefited from a different pace of editing, or perhaps a different final scene.