Reaction Paper

The Kapitalism- our improved formula is a documentary produced by Solomon Alexandru, released on April 2010, presenting the Romanian transition throw two systems, from communism to capitalism considered the “improved formula”. Taking to the surface the old habits from the old system,
The documentary is like an imagination exercise of “going into to the feature”. The narrator starts imagining Ceausescu, the leader from the communism system enjoying after 20 years in the capitalism system. In that sense he starts with:
“In order to celebrate our accomplishment of twenty years of capitalism a Machiavellic idea stroke me. I am going back to square one!”
And ends with “Ceasusescu’s words”:
“My dear friends, I am pleased with you, I know you’re fearful and without initiative but you’ve succeeded . You’ve recovered my system, my networks, even my money. The new comers really embraced our secret recipe.
Comrades, you have shown that we are competent in the foreign trade. What if you export our recipe in the entire world?
I shall return to the sky quite and confident. I feel that I live in each and everyone of you.”
The documentary is like a frame in frame story. The narrator presents our characters, the most representative figures of the capitalism system in Romania, but some of them also representative for the communism system. Names like Dinu Patriciu, George Padure, George Copos, Ioan Niculae, Dan Diaconescu, Gigi Becali and Dan Voiculescu, are the ones who lead and develop the capitalism by respecting the three most important things from the communism system and that’s PCR: protection, corruption and reputation. You can recognize these guys by the ways that are called, starting from “smart guys” to “moguls”, or “ghosts of both communism and capitalism”.
I really don’t know from my own how the old system worked, but I do know how the new one works, and from what I know neither of these two ones worked out. People like Dan Voiculescu cut the country, according to the documentary in pizza slices, having acces to the old communism state money and transforming them into private capital or people like Dinu Patriciu, for example in Petromidia case. They all have been “sharks” in this whole communism and capitalism story.
I liked the idea of presenting all sort of scenes like Lego pieces, because in the end we all are pieces in a big system. And the idea of the interview, asking the characters about which was their recipe, when did they won their first million?
In the end they all tried to find the best recipe, for example, they all have in common working for import-export, they all have in common the contact with foreign countries in the communism, and of course, like I’ve said PCR.
According to the documentary, I know it may sound too aggressive but in the end, I agree that they are all sharks!