Mircea Balaban

First of 2 films set during the 18th century in the mountains of Wallachia, about a band of outlaws aiming to undermine the rule of the Phanariots and the Ottomans. The story evolves around the two stepbrothers who lead this band, Sarbu and Amza, with their complex and violent relationship.

Based on a comedy play by Romanian playwright Tudor Mușatescu and first performed in 1932, Titanic Waltz satirises political ambition, familial coercion, and the absurdities of electoral politics through the travails of an incorruptible bureaucrat hounded by his relatives to run for office

The communists are taking over the boyar land and do the agrarian reform.

Dying in the trenches during World War II, Stefan looks back at his own life and that of his father. Through his memories, the film presents a story that embraces two generations and various eras. It is a film about the tragedy of lives dragged into conflicts against their will, of lives violently ruined or ended – a story about the devastating consequences of war. Interweaving past and present, the flashback narrative depicts the war as a perpetual situation where the “little people” always turn out to be on the losing side.

Vying for Principality of Moldavia's throne the descendants of Prince Stephen the Great start a bloody civil war in 1612.