The Great Communist Bank Robbery 2005
Distributed by Cinema Guild, 115 West 30th Street, Suite 800, New York, NY 10001; 212-685-6242
Produced by Alexandru Solomon
Directed by Alexandru Solomon
DVD, color and b& w, 70 min.
Jr. High - Adult
Area Studies, Crime, Criminal Justice, European Studies, Film Studies, History, Jewish Studies, Journalism
Date Entered: 01/15/2007
Reviewed by David Magolis, Social Sciences Librarian, Bloomsburg University of PennsylvaniaThe Great Communist Bank Robbery is a riveting documentary about crime, deceit, government propaganda, and the historical events surrounding a 1959 Romanian bank robbery. The Romanian communist government produced a film of criminals robbing a National Bank in Bucharest titled Reconstruction that highlighted their theft and prosecution from start to finish. As a result of a tightly run communist government, many of the factual events surrounding the film were not included in its original production due to the subjective views of the government.
Director Alexandru Solomon provides an objective view of Reconstruction and the robbery event by detailing the historical facts. In the documentary The Great Communist Bank Robbery, he tells the story of the Reconstruction film through voices of the former secret police, prison cellmates of the criminals, and members of the original film crew. The director integrates a unique approach by piecing the historical event of the original film together with supplementary unbiased historical facts in straightforward sections that culminates in an intriguing true story.
As a balanced and ingenuous documentary should, The Great Communist Bank Robbery also carefully incorporates original footage with modern views of the historical places and people. It is difficult if not impossible to produce a documentary of such high quality that includes closed captioning, color, black and white film, and easy to follow translations.
This documentary is an indispensable resource for those interested in crime, European studies, film studies, history, Jewish studies, and journalism. It should also be noted that the film does use closed captioning extensively and is a great source for many subject areas. I highly recommend this documentary to all audiences.
Awards
- Official Selection, Amsterdam Documentary Film Festival, 2005
- Historical Documentary Prize, Pessac International Festival, France, 2005
- Best Direction, Hungarian-Romanian DokFilm Festival, 2005
- Official Selection, Minneapolis – St. Paul International Film Festival, 2005
- Official Selection, Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival, 2005