Habitus Movie Blog

Radu Mihaileanu is a director born in Romania and living in France for 20 years now. Saturday night at TIFF 2006 Radu Mihileanu spoke in front of a full-house public in “Republica” cinema, much to the delight of a somewhat spoiled Romanian crowd, having three Romanian cineasts winning prizes at major film festivals. We spoke to Radu Mihaileanu about his big hit “Va, vis et deviens”.

How much of your own experience as an immigrant is included in the movie?
Well, I didn’t live what the ethiopians have, I can say I can be compared to them only on a small scale. Of course, I left Romania in an almost cladestine way, as Shlomo in the movie did, but it never felt what he must have. I left Romania going on a “vacation” in Israel. The problem was I was supposed to leave for France afterwards, but the weather in Israel is different than in France. So, because there was a control at the airport, I could not take winter clothes in my luggage, so I wore them to Israel, this causing me to sweat the whole trip. And, of course, saying goodbye to my mom was difficult.

The story is a real one. Did you have great trouble documenting?
The documentation took me 5 years. During this time I had sometimes a rough time with some of the authorities, because a lot of details relating to the operation of bringing the Ethiopian Jews back to Israel were still classified, so I could not use it directly. Also, I didn’t want to be manipulated by the aythorities, so much of the political facts I had to double-check.

The script won a Cesar. You wrote the script by yourself?
I had the help of two great friends, one is present in the credits, the other is a professional writer , he helped us with the literary work. This script is now a book, because the story is much more dense and much longer than the one presented in the film; actually, this is a big problem, because the movie was ready, after the first editing, the movie was 3 and a half hours long. And something else: much of this Cesar here belongs to the people living the events in the movie, I was just the one to bring the story to you.

Considering the importance of the main character, Shlomo, did you have a rough time finding the three actors? (Shlomo is depicted in the movie in three stages of his life: 9 years old, 16 years old and 20 years old)
Well, the story was ready, the team was prepared, but we didn’t want to do anything without having the main actor, especially the little one. So, we dedicated 5 months for the casting. I’ve seen 1.500 children from Israel, but ellected from the orphans coming from Ethiopia, from Ethiopia and Burundi. We ended up with a small group, because the child had to learn also French, needed in the movie. In the end, what helped me a lot was the relationship developing between African children, where the eldest one plays the role of the big brother, helping the smaller one. So, I had almost an assistant director in the person of the third Shlomo, helping me get the best from the other two.

The technical aspects were hard and demanding?
We filmed in Ethiopia, Israel and France, so it was demanding. But the hardest part was the two days of filming in Ethiopia, with a tight schedule and an even tighter budget. I’m also a co-producer, so I was also interested about this aspect. The hardest scene was the one at the beginning of the movie, where Shlomo leaves his mother to go to Israel. We lost one day just to get this scene good, and we came close to not finish the film. Another scene was very difficult, the one in which Yael, the adoptive mother of Shlomo, licks Shlomo’s face to demonstrate he’s healthy. I had to lie to the actress in order to get from her the exact feeling I wanted.

How do you find Romania after 9 years?
It is the same welcomming space I know from my childhood in Bucharest. It’s now a European country and with events such as TIFF, its cinematography can develop easier and quicker.

Lucian Dragos