Eugenia Eftimie

Sent on assignment to write a report on a scientist from an industrial complex, Caius, an established author, bumps into former schoolmate Cosma. Together they attend the press junket, discovering the subject of Caius’ assignment to be none other than their former university crush, Irina. The joyful reunion takes them to their old haunts, but once Cosma leaves, the remaining couple head down memory lane, spending the evening confronting each other with their conflicted shared history of love and abandonment. Between Caius’ enduring charm and Irina’s guarded independence, their romantic two-step will finally bring them requited closure.

A kid discovers he has heart disease, his mother was trying to keep that from him. He is depressed that he cannot play with the other children. For his mother there is a dilema: not to take any risks and have his boy lead an isolated life, or go with the risky heart surgery.

Petre Orsa, a young peasant gets a job at the Hunedoara Steel Mill with the dream of becoming a top-notch steel man, having Mihai Solca – a sort of communist industrial hero – as his role model. He starts low moving dirt around with a shovel but he soon gets into the team of an old steel man, foreman Tudor Baci.

The title translates as Fools of Bărăgan, in reference to a band of beleaguered feudal Rumanian peasants. But these are no fools: instead, they are fearless freedom fighters, organizing a brave (though foredoomed) revolt against the tyranny of the landowners. The parallels drawn between the people of Bărăgan and Russia's revolutionary leaders are all but impossible to miss. It would have been nice, however, if the story had not been told in such a heavy-handed, spell-it-all-out fashion.