It may not have had much chance of finding an audience in a season of bubblegum blockbusters ('Terminator II' was released that same summer), but this small German docu-drama was, nevertheless, one of the more devastating films in quite some time. The story is simple: an expatriate Romanian returns home during the last, desperate days of Ceausescu's regime, only to find his childhood friend Dominic held captive in a local hospital after supposedly killing eighty people in a sniping attack. But what makes the film more than just a topical drama is the way director Robert Dornhelm seamlessly incorporates documentary video footage alongside his actors, adding a sense of urgency and immediacy rarely seen in movies these days. It's not always an easy film to watch ("the truth is not pretty", says the dying Dominic) and the political background can be a little confusing to anyone not familiar with the issues, but it's impossible not to become swept up in the terrible excitement of a revolution in progress; the experience can't be dismissed by saying it's only a movie.
Review of Requiem for Dominic
