Netherlands Production Platform - Nederlands Film Festival

The Bear
(Ursul)
Libra Film
Romania
Writer/director Dan Chisu
Producer Tudor Giurgiu
4 • NPP 2008
Synopsis
Late June 1990, Bucharest State Circus.
The general manager of the circus has been
replaced after the Romanian Revolution of
1989. The thirtysomething newcomer, Panduru,
a former participant in the revolution,
is determined to prove himself capable of
turning things round. Just a few days before
the premiere of the first post-Revolution
show, Panduru has to solve the circus’
biggest financial problem: the artists haven’t
been paid for months.
One day, the manager interrupts
rehearsals and calls a general meeting with
all the circus artists in the ring to share his
brilliant idea: Martin, the old, dying circus
bear, will be sold as a trophy for a German
amateur hunter who is willing to pay good
money to achieve his heart’s desire.
Instead of being taken in by the tempting
prospect of easy money, the artists decide
against sacrificing the bear, which has been
their companion for the last 20 years. As the
sale was a done deal long before he
announced it as an idea, this leaves Panduru
with no option but to steal the bear and
deliver it with the help of a professional
hunter and a wannabe gypsy gamekeeper.
When the circus people discover the disappearance
of the bear the following day,
they waste no time in following in the
thieves’ tracks, not even pausing to take off
their extravagant make-up and outfits.
From this moment on, the chase is
underway. The circus people split into three
groups, the better to track down the truck
with the stolen bear. Meanwhile, the gypsy
and the German hunter take a detour and
stop to party at the wedding of the gypsy’s
daughter. Panduru and the other man drive
to a hunting tower in the mountains - where
the bear is to give his final ‘performance’.
After a wild time at the wedding, the German
and the gypsy sing their way to the
hunting location where they encounter the
now free bear, mistake his friendly attempts
to come closer for an attack and run away,
the gypsy abandoning his bicycle.
Down the hill, they encounter the circus
people coming to the bear’s rescue and,
together with their other two partners in
crime, witness the most unlikely of scenes:
Martin the bear is now riding the bicycle
round the hunting tower. It is, after all, what
he had spent his entire life doing.
However, Martin’s freedom proves
short-lived: attracted by a familiar scent, the
bear goes back to the spot where another
German hunter, Wilhelm, is waiting for his
expensive hunting trophy. Bang, bang...
Director’s statement
This is a road movie, and also a film about
our honesty and sincerity - about that stage
in our lives, right after the Revolution of
December 1989, when we were unaware of
our true priorities, and were still ruled by
sentiment. Today, it would be a cheap
notion; back then, it was pure. All decisions
were dictated by the heart. This is a common
story about a common situation.
A man is politically appointed as the head
of an institution. He knows nothing of management
and attempts to solve problems to
the best of his ability: this was how he did it
during the Revolution. However, the institution
where he is appointed is the Bucharest
State Circus, which makes his entire story a
tragicomedy. Had he been appointed head of
a machine-building plant, in charge of selling
lathes, no one would have stood up to him.
But artists are different and live things differently
- which is why things slip out of control.
The circus employees are past their
prime; they have lived most of their adult
lives under the communist regime. Freedom
feels awkward to them, and the uncertainty
of tomorrow makes them regret the past.
However, at a time of crisis, they are willing
to give everything up without hesitating. Had
the same story happened today, who knows
how many would react like this
The comedy comes from their Fellini-like
outfits combined with their leftist newspeak
language. A meeting of the circus staff
resembles old party meetings, except the
participants are now clowns, acrobats and
magicians. Everything is comic. The comic
climax is when the bear rides a bicycle
around the hunting tower. But that is also the