The Thistles of The Bărăgan

The Thistles of The Bărăgan

116 mins | Drama | Jan. 1, 1957

Rumania's entry in the 1958 Cannes Film Festival was the excessively melodramatic Ciulinii Bărăganului. 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.

The Thistles of The Bărăgan

116 mins | Drama | Jan. 1, 1957

The Thistles of The Bărăgan
Rumania's entry in the 1958 Cannes Film Festival was the excessively melodramatic Ciulinii Bărăganului. 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.
IMDb rating 7.3
Producers Filmstudio București
Original title Ciulinii Bărăganului
Directors Dinu Cocea, Gheorghe Vitanidis, Louis Daquin
Writers Panait Istrati, Alexandru Struțeanu

Cast

Florin Piersic

as Tănase

Clody Bertola

as Dudaca

Nuță Chirlea

as Matache

Ana Vlădescu

as Tudorița

Ruxandra Ionescu

as Stana

Mihai Berechet

as Boyar