Silent Wedding (2008)

Perfect cinema ,good laughs with deep profound feeling, the great of this movie is not long only one hour and a half masterpiece especially at the second half,watch it never miss it

It's difficult to describe the feelings I had when watching this movie..I'm not sure if this movie is intended for all types of audiences, I think some people will be bored or dislike the plot altogether. As some reviewers have already mentioned, the movie is not objective. In it, communists and Russians are described as invaders and oppressors...but the viewer has to understand that just as Germans are depicted as cruel Nazis in all the WWII movies about concentration camps, like "Schindels list" or "Sophies choice", here the Russians are seen as the cruel invaders by the inhabitants of a small Romanian village in the aftermath of WWII. One has not to forget that this is a story set in a specific time and place.I can't describe to you how funny this movie is at points, the dialog and word games are brilliant and reflect the whole genius of Horatiu Malaele. You find yourself rooting for the characters and going through the motions with them, through good and bad. I can't honestly say that the movie is a masterpiece, neither plot nor acting isn't Oscar material...but then, since seeing it, which was about 8 months ago, I can't keep it out of my head because it made a really strong impression on me. I don't exactly understand why or how, but there is something deeply human, tragic and beautiful in it that just won't be denied. A friend asked me which movie had made an impression on me lately, and I was myself surprised when I did not answer "Black Swan" but "Silent Wedding". Not to diss "Black Swan", which I thought indeed Oscar worthy...but I guess this really says something about this movie.

A small town. A happy young couple about to be wed. A tight community ready to celebrate this happy event. All is well. Until a number of militant communists enter the town to declare a period of national mourning after the death of the party leader. After that the wedding party is forbidden and the community searches for a way to have it go on anyway. The solution is as dared as inventive as fun: the feast will go on but everything, including the music, will be in mime.And so starts one of the funniest films I've seen in a long time - the lives of the people, the loving community and the vividly happy pair are all somewhat pressured by the need to be silent, but are all still there oh so very clearly. As events roll on it is clear that the fun will not last forever, but it is as good as it can be while it is there.And there it is: a tragicomedy about the right event, at the wrong time, all wrapped in a long back flash which in my eyes is only added to the film to lengthen it a bit. It could have been somewhat better if that part had not been there and the actual wedding party had been done longer. But it's still a great film and it adds a good warmth to the heart.9 out of 10 silenced laughters

This is maybe the best movie I have seen. It made me get an IMDb account to rate it 10 stars. I don't care about technical judgments about this movie. It's a Romanian emotional roller-coaster which pictures our recent history in a tragical and comical frame. It's one of the few movies I have ever watched at the cinema where at the end of which lots of people applauded. Romanians are recognizing themselves in the story and they find coherence in their identity and this makes the movie a masterpiece and a great service to the people of this country.One more thing that I appreciate in this movie is a reparation done within the history of the subjective experience. People from the village were at best ignoring communists and poking fun of them if they were not hating them. Nobody was happy to give away their land and village men knew what communism can bring, since they saw it with their own eyes when they fought on the Eastern front.Most people hated communism and they tried to live a normal life in silence, just like it happens in the movie. Humor was maybe the best survival resource.I live in Romania and I know from personal experience and thorough study what Russians did bring under the name of communism. I don't try to convince anyone that the so called communism was criminal and implemented locally with the help of the weakest links (like in the movie), low educated people with low morals, since there is enough literature today for anyone that has any doubt. Of course, as somebody mentions here, Romanians too did their horrible crimes on the Eastern front, but this does not mean that what the people like the ones in the movie endured, did any kind of humane justice. The people that fought on the Eastern front are a good source, since they were regular soldiers, not vicious criminals and even if they were vicious criminals, they could anyway still have seen the "benefits" that "communism" has brought to Russia.I understand why some people consider it propagandistic, but in my view this is a good artistical work upon the subjective experience and life of ordinary Romanians in 1953.