New.Europe.With.Michael.Palin.3.Of.7
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:30National Day in Tiraspol, the capital of Transdniestr, a place most people have never
00:59heard of. It's actually a break-away state of the Republic of Moldova, another place
01:04most people have never heard of, which makes me doubly glad to be here.
01:08I've never witnessed anything quite like this before, a National Day parade for a nation
01:21that doesn't exist. This is Transdniestr, they have their own army, they have their
01:25own currency, but no single other country in the world recognises them. But today they
01:30recognise themselves. Transdniestr, literally across the Dniester
01:36River, consists of 4,000 square kilometres and just over half a million people. Oh, and
01:43a helicopter. When the old Soviet Republic of Moldova won
01:54independence in 1991, those on the east bank of the Dniester River felt let down. The majority
02:01of them were Slavs, they used the Russian language and the Russian alphabet, whereas
02:05the rest of Moldova spoke Romanian, a Latin language. So in 1992, after a short civil
02:12war, the Transdniestrans declared themselves independent, which is what today's festivities
02:18are all about. These people want so much to remain Russian that in most of their lifetimes,
02:41it looks increasingly unlikely that the rift with Moldova will ever be repaired.
02:52After crossing the Dniester, I shall pass through the rest of Moldova, into northern
02:57Romania, south to Transylvania and Bucharest, then on to the Danube.
03:04I'm coming into Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. This was once the far southwestern
03:17corner of the mighty Soviet Union. Now it's a tiny independent country trying to find
03:22its place on the new map of Europe. Chisinau is not without its problems, but
03:30first impressions are of a likeable, surprisingly verdant, easy-going city. I take a walk in
03:36the park with Tatiana Tabulyak, a local journalist, and for a moment it's like stepping back
03:42in time.
04:12It's a very small pension. Some of them were just left alone, you know. They're not rich.
04:19They just have very poor condition in life. And what they do every Sunday, they just put
04:24a nice dress on themselves, make a little bit of makeup, you know, put medals, nice
04:29suits, and they're coming here just to meet each other.
04:33They can dance with anyone here, can they?
04:35And a lot of love stories started here, you know.
04:38They're quite old, some of them, almost my age, you know.
04:49You can come here for a good dose of optimism for your week, you know.
05:03Even a man doesn't want to dance, a lady should have more courage.
05:09Oh, come on, man.
05:11Will you be able to dance?
05:12Ah, well, we'll see what we can do.
05:16Yeah, there we go.
05:17Oh, it's not so bad.
05:21Well, I just watched what happened after that.
05:39Is there much regret at the passing of the old Soviet Union?
05:44Do people feel nostalgic at all here for those days?
05:49Actually, a lot.
05:51If you would ask all these people you see here, they would start crying and they would
05:56say, we want back.
06:00Young generation, they are not so nostalgic, but we didn't even get too much from the Soviet
06:05period.
06:07I think people miss not the regime, they miss jobs, they miss pensions, they miss, I don't
06:17know, cheap food and good vacations.
06:22I also miss Soviet period, you know why?
06:24Because I was young and I had my parents alive and if this means to miss Soviet Union, yes,
06:32I miss.
06:33Because I was a child, I had my grandparents, I went to all these places, everything seems
06:39to be so beautiful.
06:41But now, logically, of course, I'm so happy that it's not here and I can speak with you
06:47today.
06:49Twenty years ago, this would be a crime.
06:51I would probably have a file now if you would come and I would tell you all these things,
06:55you know.
06:57And this is important to know and to keep in mind always.
07:00And everybody is nostalgic for something, but it's important to be realistic at one
07:05point.
07:06You miss the sensation of something, you miss the smell or the taste, but you cannot miss
07:11something which killed and made unhappy so many generations.
07:23Tatiana also helps run the UNICEF operation in Moldova.
07:28And tomorrow, she's going to take me to a village outside the capital to see their work
07:32in action.
07:34Moldova is the poorest country in Europe and many in the countryside can only support their
07:39families by working abroad.
07:42Those left behind are easy prey for drug dealers and people traffickers.
07:46With the help of UNICEF, the children of this village have put on a play to make people
07:51aware of the dangers that they face.
07:54What's the, what are really, what are they attempting to show and deal with?
08:00It's a story about trafficking.
08:02So here's a typical Moldovan village.
08:05People wake up to go to work, probably, you'll see, to field.
08:11Trafficking is a big issue in Moldova, actually.
08:15Because a quarter of the population is out, mainly women, working illegally.
08:22Abroad?
08:23Yes, abroad.
08:25These are people who went abroad and now they're coming back to recruit people for prostitution,
08:31for begging.
08:33Actually, they probably lived in the same village for many years and now they come here
08:38because people, they trust them because, you know, if you live with somebody 20 years,
08:43you trust that person.
08:45And actually, these are the main traffickers.
08:48Local people coming back to their own village?
08:50Local people coming back, they promise them like two, three hundred dollars per month
08:56and for them, this is huge money.
08:59They usually see, he injected some drugs to the girl, this is what is happening.
09:04Actually, they're living like three, four, five years drugged and being forced to prostitute.
09:12When they come back, we have a lot of cases here when they, we need years to recover them.
09:20Actually, children are very expressive.
09:22Imagine that every second has parents abroad.
09:26Every second child here?
09:27Every second child acting has parents abroad.
09:30Maybe they didn't see them for years, you know, five years, six years.
09:34They just receive money from them.
09:36Maybe that's why they're so good.
09:37They've just seen it on people's faces.
09:40I mean, the look on the faces is so intense and they've, you know, it's full of feelings,
09:45isn't it really?
09:46It's amazing.
09:48What you're doing here, the play, does it do any good at all if people are just going to go anyway?
09:53Do you think it does change lives?
09:54No, I think they, the main thing, the main message is that they inform them, you know.
10:00Now they can know that things like this can happen.
10:04You should be very careful with who are you talking, who is taking you abroad.
10:10You know, this is, you want to do for this and they are doing actually.
10:15Of course people will go, but they will ask themselves ten times what they are doing,
10:21with who they are doing, you know.
10:24So what's happening now, she's being sold.
10:26How much, what sort of money is involved when they're sold, do you know?
10:31Up to 5,000.
10:33But for this money she will have to work like years and years in prostitution, years and years.
10:40We had cases when women were telling us that they've been forced to sleep with 40 men per day.
10:49Young girls, like 18 years old. This is a tragedy.
10:58In the end, good defeats bad, and those who were seized escape their tormentors and return to the village.
11:05It's been a moving performance to watch, but Tatiana remains a realist.
11:10It's a beautiful happening. In life it's not always like this.
11:14No.
11:40Through Tatiana I meet Olga Maxim, who at 16 left Moldova to study as an actress in Romania.
11:47Though she now has a partner and child there, she comes home regularly to visit her mother
11:52and suggests I might like to go with her and see a quieter side of Moldovan life.
11:56Her mother lives in a farming village, an hour south of Chisinau.
12:26Olga's father died seven years ago, and her mother, Helena, lives alone in the family house.
12:52Mum's working.
12:56Hello!
12:58What are you doing, mum?
12:59What am I doing? I'm working.
13:02She wants you to do the work, yes, exactly.
13:04Hello, hello. I should say hello. What should I say, really?
13:08Hello.
13:09Hello.
13:10Hello, hello, hello.
13:11Very nice to meet you. She's been very helpful to me.
13:14She said I was helpful. Very helpful.
13:17I brought her to see you. She wants to see this side of Moldova.
13:20But she is a crazy driver.
13:22Let her see, let her see.
13:25Like many who've grown up in a world of communist collectives,
13:29Helena has learned the importance of having something of your own.
13:33Does she have to buy any food at all, or is she quite self-sufficient?
13:37No, she doesn't buy anything.
13:39She's growing everything in her garden.
13:41Or she buys sugar, or probably rice.
13:45Right.
13:46I mean, for sure.
13:47But everything that she grows in the garden, she has in there.
13:52What are her luxuries?
13:53I mean, what are things that she would like to spend her money on,
13:56apart from a new pair of garden gloves?
14:10Sweet things that she cannot grow in the garden.
14:13Oh, that's good.
14:14That she buys from the city.
14:16Yeah, I remember that.
14:18The rest, she has everything.
14:28She has everything.
14:29She's grown chickens and ducks and all these kinds.
14:33Helena gets up at four every morning.
14:35When I look at her garden, I can see why.
14:38Mum wants to show you her garden.
14:48Fast.
14:51Tomatoes.
14:52She grows tomatoes in here.
14:55And she grows all this herself and picks them and all that?
14:58Yeah, yeah.
14:59Everything that she grows in here is for herself.
15:03Your family have lived here for generations, on both sides.
15:06Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
15:10What did your father do?
15:12Well, my father was...
15:15He had kind of ruling jobs, you know.
15:18First, he was...
15:20In politics?
15:21He was a communist, actually.
15:23He was the...
15:25How they calling...
15:27In the party, in the...
15:31Communist party.
15:32So, he was kind of...
15:33Most people were at that time, weren't they?
15:35Most, all of them.
15:36All the men in the village.
15:38Speaking like a maniac here.
15:40She's speaking.
15:42I love it, really.
15:43We natter on.
15:44She's just really concerned about getting the raspberries in.
15:48They're lovely.
15:50What does she think about Moldova now?
15:52I mean, does she think things are going to get better or worse?
16:11Uh-huh.
16:16I think that...
16:18She thinks that things might go worse because of the economic situation.
16:24The salaries are very small and the prices are growing.
16:28For her, it's enough.
16:29She says, for me, it's enough.
16:30I have everything.
16:31Yes, yes, yes.
16:32For the other people from the cities, especially.
16:35The things might go worse because of the economy, the level.
16:39Is she nostalgic for the communist time?
16:48No.
16:49No?
16:52Despite this, I suspect it'll be a long time
16:54before New Europe changes the way of life in the Moldovan countryside.
17:00Certainly, the meal Helena treats us to owes more to the old days.
17:06It's very nice.
17:10And she's made the wine as well.
17:12But it must mean that...
17:13She wants to toast with you.
17:15Toast, oh, yes. Yes, well, thank you.
17:18OK, cheers.
17:19Here's to Moldovan way of life, Moldovan food,
17:24to the best cook in Moldova.
17:26Very good.
17:29Are people more inclined now towards Romania
17:32and, obviously, then to the West and Europe?
17:36After the separation, they just remain alone, totally alone.
17:41And Moldova has no industry, has nothing to live from, just land.
17:46There you see, they are growing vegetables and they are having this.
17:50Actually, the Soviet Union was calling Moldova the sunny country
17:54because everything was here very natural.
17:56The vegetables and the chicken and everything was growing naturally from the land.
18:01There was nothing chemical, so stuff like this.
18:04Would you come back to live here?
18:06In Moldova? Maybe when I'm very old. Maybe.
18:10No, maybe. See, there you are, you see.
18:12Qualified person like yourself.
18:14Yeah.
18:15You can't really work here.
18:21Here in the south of Moldova,
18:23old and new worlds meet in quite surreal circumstances.
18:35The country's top group, Zhdob Zhdob, much influenced by folk music,
18:40has come here especially to reunite with a gypsy lady,
18:44known and loved by all as Grandma.
19:05Grandma
19:20Grandma won international fame,
19:23banging the drum for Moldova in the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest.
19:28They came sixth.
19:35Well, we've now left Moldova and we're in Moldavia.
19:40Moldova's a separate country, as you know.
19:42Moldavia is a part of Romania.
19:45It's confusing, I know, but it's very, very beautiful.
19:54In the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains,
19:56largely protected from marauding armies and political commissars,
20:00are some of the least changed communities in Europe.
20:05Religion remains the focus of local life,
20:08and the churches are works of art.
20:12The walls of this one, the monastery at Moldovita,
20:15are covered inside and out with frescoes painted 500 years ago.
20:20These ones here are a graphic account of the siege of Constantinople,
20:24with Christian armies desperately fighting off the Turks.
20:27It's like medieval news footage.
20:30Every single wall is covered.
20:32Yes, every square inch, we can say, is covered with paintings, yeah?
20:36What we see around here, this is the Last Judgement scene,
20:40always at the entrance to remind people
20:42about how important it is to take care of their next lives.
20:46Carolina is my guide to this extraordinary Byzantine masterpiece.
20:50That's where the altar would be.
20:52Behind that wall would be the altar,
20:54where no men of other religion and no women are ever allowed to go in.
20:58Except nuns sometimes.
21:00And the wall here is called the Icon Wall or the Iconostasis,
21:04which is one of the most marvellous parts of this church, basically.
21:08Is that gold leaf or gold?
21:10Yes, it's gold, yeah.
21:12It's carved in wood and it's covered with gold.
21:15Yeah, yeah.
21:17And they're still working on it?
21:19And they're still working on it, yes.
21:21Gosh, that is such detail.
21:23Yeah, so much detail, so much time-consuming.
21:26How long have they been working?
21:28Just over 15 years now.
21:30Seems it's about 700 Euro per square metre to clean it.
21:34For centuries, this has been a hidden gem,
21:37but in the new Europe, it could be tourist gold.
21:46In the mountains of the Maramures region, it's All Souls' Day.
21:51And if evidence were needed
21:53for why communist atheism made so little headway here,
21:56look no further than this churchyard.
22:10The graveyard in the village of Aiud
22:12is packed with families here to remember their loved ones.
22:17The priest blesses each grave in turn.
22:33Candles are lit and bread specially baked.
22:36Jonot, a local student, tells me why.
22:39This is one of the most important days of the year.
22:44Because this is the day when we celebrate death.
22:50Remember the dead.
22:52Yes, just like we celebrate the birth, the wedding.
22:57And this is the day when we remember the dead.
23:14It's not just relatives of the living who are remembered.
23:18Any member of a family who has died in the past 200 years
23:22can have their name read out.
23:29It's a touching image of the power of remembrance and continuity,
23:33and surely helps to make the work of the Grim Reaper
23:36seem a little less grim.
23:44After the Mass, I walk through the village
23:47with Jonot and his father Philemon,
23:49who have invited me back to their house
23:51to carry on the celebrations.
23:54Meanwhile, with the dead remembered,
23:56the living go back to work.
24:14Despite the beauty of the countryside, life here is hard,
24:18and the way to find relief from the daily grind
24:21is usually with a strong drink and a good knees-up.
24:24I fear that Jonot and Philemon are no exceptions.
24:31With Jonot's mother keeping a beady eye out in the background,
24:35the first of several toasts is raised.
24:38Cheese and sausage is on the table,
24:40and in the glass, palinka, a fiery eau de vie
24:43made from apples and pears.
24:48And with an awful inevitability,
24:50one thing leads to another.
25:02And another.
25:10And another.
25:12And another.
25:14And another.
25:17And another.
25:19And another.
25:21And another.
25:23And another.
25:25And another.
25:27And another.
25:29And another.
25:31And another.
25:33And another.
25:35And another.
25:37And another.
25:38And another.
25:40Why can't they just have afternoon tea like anyone else?
25:56Next morning I find myself and my hangover
25:59aboard a horse and cart, along with Clara,
26:02whom I'd met last night at the party.
26:05We're in the town of Sapanta,
26:07and perhaps appropriately, in view of how I feel,
26:10on our way to another cemetery.
26:12Are we here?
26:13Yeah, we are here. We're going to stop here.
26:15But one, as they say, with a difference.
26:18Most of the graves are decorated by local artist Dan Patras.
26:22It's nice that all...
26:23I mean, the usual symbols of death,
26:25the skulls and the grim reapers,
26:28it's life.
26:29I mean, this one here.
26:31Yeah, this one, it's very...
26:33What's that?
26:34This one is not so sad, actually.
26:36Here it's about a very happy man
26:38who lived a very happy life.
26:40He liked to drink wine and palinka
26:43and to entertain women, you know.
26:45Yeah, so he's had a happy life.
26:47When did he die? Did he die when he was...?
26:49He died when he was...
26:51They don't say the age exactly,
26:54but he lived a very happy life,
26:56so I think he died very happily.
26:58Yeah.
26:59I quite like that.
27:00I like that in my grave, actually.
27:02That's an idea.
27:03Here lies so-and-so, so-and-so.
27:05It's a little sort of picture of me.
27:07Yeah, it's an idea to...
27:09Wouldn't you?
27:10To sort of...
27:11Some bit of your life celebrated rather than...
27:13Yeah, yeah, it's...
27:14You know, sort of rather...
27:15How you...
27:16Just the word died here and all.
27:18Yeah, yeah, yeah.
27:19The rather grim stuff.
27:20Celebrate life.
27:21Yeah, yeah, I think it's very nice, yeah.
27:23And the people are much more enjoyable
27:25when they read that about you and what you've done.
27:28I think that's what you want to remember.
27:30Of course.
27:32Some of them, they are, let's say, happy, cheery,
27:35but some of them, they are quite, I think, sad, let's say.
27:39Yes, accidents.
27:40This one here, for instance.
27:41So it's a bittersweet combination.
27:43Yeah, this one is also...
27:44What's that?
27:45What does that say?
27:46It says it's a little kid and it's about a cab driver
27:50who drove a cab,
27:52and the girl wondered,
27:54why that cab should stop near the house and kill me?
27:59From all this country, he couldn't find another place,
28:02but next to our house where I was living and stayed by, nearby,
28:07and the cab killed her.
28:09So then she's also...
28:11That describes what happened.
28:13Yeah, that describes over there, yeah, how it happened,
28:15how the cab drove into the fence and killed the little girl.
28:19It's an odd combination, isn't it?
28:21Because you feel, you know, an awful accident
28:23and a little dead girl there,
28:25and yet somehow that makes it kind of...
28:27Takes the curse off it somehow.
28:29Celebrates a very short life.
28:31Yeah, that's true, yeah.
28:33They call this the Merry Cemetery, and I can see why.
28:37There's no better place than this to learn about the pain,
28:40pleasure and the preoccupations of life in Maramores.
28:58WHISTLE BLOWS
29:02It's a region that's not overflowing with job opportunities,
29:06but the forest, high above one of its most remote valleys,
29:10has for many years provided local men with work.
29:16It's Monday morning and I'm joining the train
29:19which takes about 80 lumberjacks up into the forest.
29:22No comment.
29:28Good morning.
29:30Morning.
29:32I...
29:34Well...
29:36Don't have a ticket. Do I need a ticket?
29:39No?
29:41Just need an interest in trees.
29:43Ah.
29:58WHISTLE BLOWS
30:00WHISTLE BLOWS
30:24The more beautiful it gets, the colder it gets.
30:27The only heating's in the engine.
30:29WHISTLE BLOWS
30:31WHISTLE BLOWS
30:54This isn't luxury travel, but they're lumberjacks.
30:57They're OK.
31:01WHISTLE BLOWS
31:22WHISTLE BLOWS
31:25WHISTLE BLOWS
31:27It may not look like it,
31:29but things have changed for the Romanian lumberjack.
31:32The chainsaw has replaced the axe
31:34and environmental concerns have limited how much they can cut,
31:38reducing the workforce by a fifth.
31:42WHISTLE BLOWS
31:53At lunch, I'm introduced to a local delicacy,
31:56very useful, I'm told, for soaking up palinka.
31:59What's this, by the way?
32:01This is slanina. Slanina.
32:03What's that? Slanina, it's like a lard.
32:05It's a fat. It's a fat, yes.
32:07It's what pig make.
32:09It's a pig.
32:11And usually take a bit of this and you must chill with slanina.
32:15Yes, of course, let's do it.
32:17Let's do it.
32:19You must trust in me.
32:21Very sort of typical of MaramureÈ™?
32:23Typical of MaramureÈ™, yes.
32:25OK, what do you do?
32:27Dip it in there?
32:29No, no, no.
32:34Cheers. Noroc.
32:36Noroc.
32:38Quite salty and...
32:40It's not spicy, it's good.
32:42Well, it's like fat, but I like it.
32:44But the tricot is gone.
32:46No, no, it's fine, it's fine.
32:48We used to have dripping when I was young.
32:50Yes.
32:52In Sheffield we'd have dripping on bread, we'd have that,
32:54but now, nobody, ooh, nobody has it, you know,
32:56it's kind of shocking.
32:58Far too much sort of bad, you know,
33:00sort of bad things for you,
33:02but I think it's sense.
33:04The people are healthy here.
33:06It's every now and then.
33:12Having probably shortened my life by a good few years,
33:14it's time to leave this otherwise
33:16delightfully clean and healthy mountain air
33:18and head south
33:20with the timber.
33:22Oh!
33:34Well, I've come south from Maramures,
33:36with its merry preoccupation with the dead,
33:38to Transylvania, with its rather more sinister
33:40preoccupation with the undead.
33:46This is Sigisoara,
33:48in the very heart of Romania,
33:50and the word heart reminds me
33:52this is Dracula Land.
33:58The town was
34:00fortified by Saxons from south Germany,
34:02hence the Brothers Grimm
34:04fairytale-like appearance.
34:06It was intended as a bulwark against invaders
34:08coming through the Carpathians,
34:10Europe's last line of defence.
34:14Joanna, my guide, tells me
34:16the Germans lived here happily for centuries,
34:18but the Communists made them unwelcome
34:20and now they've all left.
34:24One of the most legendary figures in history
34:26was born here
34:28and is still remembered.
34:30Joanna has mixed feelings about his legacy.
34:38They've really got Dracula...
34:40Look at all these.
34:42Dracula has taken over your town.
34:44Yes, this was the house of...
34:46Yes, I saw that.
34:48The father of Vlad the Impaler.
34:50And maybe he was born right here.
34:52But who was he?
34:54He was a great voivode, you know?
34:56Voivode?
34:58No, what's a voivode?
35:00A prince.
35:02And a great leader.
35:04So he was quite a hero for the Romanian people
35:06as he fought the Turks.
35:08A big hero.
35:10He defended very well his people
35:12and he beat the Turks.
35:14He did a bit of impaling though, didn't he?
35:16It wasn't very nice, was it?
35:18Yes, but it was a good thing
35:20because he loved justice
35:22and it was a habit all around.
35:24Was it? Everybody was impaling everybody else?
35:26Yes!
35:28We think the medieval times are charming, don't we?
35:30This is all Bram Stoker's work, isn't it?
35:32Yes, it is.
35:34He's the one responsible for this.
35:36What do you think of all this?
35:38These are pretty kitsch, huh?
35:40That's what I like.
35:42Yes, it's funny.
35:44I like these especially.
35:46Would you mind turning your back?
35:48I'll be your witness.
35:50Keep the Dracula business going.
35:52Please buy them in front of me, OK?
35:54Maybe I can have these two here.
35:56There we are.
35:58A coffee for me and the wife.
36:00That would be very nice in the morning.
36:02A cup of tea.
36:04Before impalings.
36:06We have those two, thank you very much.
36:08How much are they?
36:10300.
36:12It's good, this.
36:14OK, fine.
36:16If you want, I have a colleague
36:18who is performing Count Dracula,
36:20the character of Bram Stoker.
36:22Is he scary, your friend?
36:24Very!
36:26Very scary!
36:28Combining history and local superstitions,
36:30the Irish writer Bram Stoker
36:32created a character
36:34who's now responsible for a tourist industry
36:36that has brought wealth
36:38and car parks
36:40to the gentle Transylvanian countryside.
36:50Dracula's most blood-curdling deeds
36:52were set here at Bran Castle.
36:54It certainly looks the part
36:56and still attracts some pretty strange people.
37:00Welcome to my castle.
37:04Come with me.
37:06The Irish friend Peter
37:08has to be one of them.
37:10It doesn't look well.
37:12Come to me.
37:14Be my friend.
37:18You first.
37:20No, you first!
37:22Oh, dear.
37:24Into the little passageway syndrome.
37:26Break the garlic.
37:32It's Jane!
37:36It's Jane!
37:46It's dead.
37:54These rooms were actually done up
37:56in the 1920s by Queen Marie,
37:58wife of King Carol,
38:00when Romania still had a royal family.
38:02Sorry, back to the story.
38:04Girls.
38:06Girls?
38:08Transylvania!
38:32Transylvania!
38:34Oh, Transylvania!
38:36In Transylvania you can see very strange things.
38:38Telling me?
38:44But I have more.
38:46My revenge has begun.
38:50I strived it over the century
38:52and time
38:54is on my side.
39:02I've seen a lot of Romania's
39:04unchanged rural byways
39:06and now it's time to head for the capital,
39:08Bucharest, to find out
39:10how modern Romania has been shaped.
39:12And, as happens on trains,
39:14they end up learning a thing or two
39:16on the way.
39:18I couldn't help noticing your book you're reading
39:20is by Cioran, is it?
39:22Cioran. Yeah.
39:24Because I've just read my guidebook
39:26there's a great bit here about
39:28Emil Cioran, the philosopher,
39:30published on the Heights of Despair,
39:32talking about the nihilist anti-philosophy,
39:34that the only valid thing
39:36to do with one's life is to end it.
39:38But he continued
39:40to expound this view
39:42until he was 84.
39:44Yeah, quite so, yeah.
39:46So is he well known?
39:48It is, actually, it is.
39:50It's one of the Romanian biggest philosophers.
39:54He's part of the golden generation
39:56of the Romanian spirituality
39:58built up between the wars.
40:00Europeans seem to be able to
40:02respect and admire philosophy
40:04more than they do in England.
40:06Is that so? Really?
40:08We don't really have great philosophers.
40:10We have Shakespeare. People aren't interested.
40:12Shakespeare explains everything.
40:14Maybe that's it.
40:16Because we have this sort of conceit
40:18in the West that we are
40:20Europe. And, of course,
40:22what I've discovered, certainly, from this journey
40:24is that it's not like that.
40:26The culture, the history is all entwined
40:28and Romania must have felt itself
40:30to be part of Europe.
40:32Romania has,
40:34in one way,
40:36in one time in its history,
40:38elected to be in eternity,
40:40to have no connection with historical time
40:42because it's a terror of history.
40:44We are here in the middle of the crossroads
40:46of all nation invaders
40:48and empires and everything else.
40:50And to survive,
40:52the Romanian people
40:54choose to be
40:56suspended in eternity.
40:58I'm not entirely sure what that means.
41:00When I set out
41:02to see Bucharest next morning,
41:04I'm not entirely sure where I am.
41:16Have I been flown back to London
41:18overnight?
41:26Perhaps I never left MaramureÈ™.
41:38Ah, now I understand,
41:40of course,
41:42I'm in the American West.
41:44Hello.
41:46You're Bogdan.
41:48Hi, welcome.
41:50Very good to meet you.
41:52I feel I've been all over the world in the last
41:54two minutes trying to get here.
41:56Bogdan Moncea runs the many
41:58make-believe worlds here at Castel Film Studios.
42:00It's a Romanian
42:02success story,
42:04with international hits like Cold Mountain
42:06shot here, and another American movie
42:08currently in production.
42:12But how did it come to be?
42:14Post-communism was very chaotic.
42:16Most of the industry
42:18is trying to find pace, trying to find
42:20directions. Markets were
42:22collapsing, systems
42:24were collapsing and changing.
42:26So it seems to be crazy for a young
42:28DOP at that time called Vlad Bonescu
42:30to start a business like that.
42:34You know, it seems crazy.
42:36But in the end, now it seems
42:38to be a very successful business,
42:40and it is a very successful business.
42:42Bucharest,
42:44a sprawl of some
42:46two million people,
42:48has been a capital for
42:50350 years.
42:52But it's the
42:54traumatic recent history
42:56shaped by the communist dictator
42:58Nicolae Ceaușescu,
43:00who ran the place for 25 years,
43:02that is stamped all over it.
43:04That building in front of us
43:06there, the white building,
43:08that's the building
43:10in front of us there, the white building,
43:12was the central committee
43:14of the communist party.
43:16This is where
43:18the revolution in 1989
43:20started in Bucharest.
43:22This is where
43:24a big crowd of people was gathered
43:26in December 1989
43:28by Ceaușescu,
43:30strangely enough,
43:32in a big rally
43:34to support
43:36communism, actually.
43:38And people started
43:40to boo him and to,
43:42in a way,
43:44attack him verbally, and then
43:46gradually, literally,
43:48attack this building.
43:50And from the top of the building
43:52is a very famous shot of his helicopter
43:54taking off from the palace.
43:56Within days,
43:58he was executed.
44:00The communist system in Romania
44:02was probably, if not the toughest,
44:04definitely one of the toughest
44:06in Eastern Europe.
44:08It was very similar,
44:10and he actually had models
44:12from those areas
44:14in North Korea,
44:16in Vietnam at that time,
44:18in Iraq.
44:20He became a very
44:22good friend with all these
44:24dictators.
44:26And this was the result. Ceaușescu's
44:28Palace of the People,
44:30after the Pentagon, the second largest
44:32building in the world.
44:36It now houses,
44:38amongst other things, the Romanian
44:40Parliament. And I'm shown round
44:42by another Bogdan, MP
44:44and current President of the Chamber of Deputies,
44:46Bogdan Malteanu.
44:52Frankly speaking, everybody hated it
44:54because of its history, because of
44:56the people which were brought here
44:58by force. Some of them died.
45:00Thousands
45:02of houses have been demolished in this area,
45:04and people were forcefully removed.
45:06So basically,
45:08the Romanians hated it.
45:10There was a long debate in the early 90s
45:12about what to do with it,
45:14and one of the ideas was to bomb it.
45:16To bomb it?
45:18To demolish it, okay.
45:20But it wasn't the idea to bomb it from the place.
45:28In the end, it was easier to keep it.
45:30The headache for Bogdan
45:32and his colleagues now is how to fill
45:34the space.
45:48The statistics are staggering.
45:50Begun in 1984,
45:5220,000 labourers
45:54and 700 architects
45:56work 24 hours a day
45:58to build over 1,000 rooms,
46:00hang 4,500 chandeliers,
46:02lay a million
46:04cubic feet of marble,
46:06and it's still not finished.
46:14One carpet alone weighed 14 tonnes,
46:16as a nuclear bunker
46:18dug 70 feet below ground,
46:20and 26 churches
46:22and 7,000 homes were demolished
46:24for this and the civic centre
46:26that surrounds it.
46:30You can see the grand scheme
46:32here,
46:34this balcony.
46:36Yeah, here you can address the people
46:38and they will never know who's addressing them
46:40because they can hardly see you from there.
46:42Yes, that's a bit of a mistake.
46:44Was he sort of illuminated?
46:46Minor mistake.
46:48If he had the time, probably he would have built
46:50a second building.
46:52Was that based on the Champs-Élysées?
46:54I wouldn't say it's based on the looks,
46:56but it's certainly based on the size.
46:58He wanted to have a boulevard longer and wider,
47:00and he managed to have it longer and wider.
47:02It's a little bit wider
47:04and a little bit longer.
47:06No other comparison, I would say.
47:10Fragments of the old city
47:12can still be seen,
47:14but in truth there's precious little left
47:16of the golden days of the 1920s and 30s,
47:18when Bucharest was known
47:20as Little Paris.
47:22Of course, there have been golden days
47:24for Romania since then,
47:26many of which involved
47:28their world number one tennis player
47:30of the 1970s,
47:32Ilia Nastase.
47:34Oh.
47:36Well, I say.
47:38I've never been
47:40in a tennis superstar's home before,
47:42so show me these.
47:44I'm not in your house.
47:46Well, no.
47:48I have a house, but I'm no superstar.
47:50Well, there you are.
47:52That was the superstar days.
47:54It's the one with the ugly cheerio there also.
47:56How long have you been in this house?
47:5833 years.
48:00Right. You ever wanted to live in another city?
48:02Yeah, New York,
48:04and also Rome,
48:06but I was in New York the first time
48:08and I don't have time for Rome after.
48:10I feel I know you,
48:12because I've seen you so often
48:14and followed your great adventures.
48:16I think I saw you too.
48:18I don't play tennis.
48:20No, no.
48:22I know your face,
48:24but I don't know from where,
48:26but I saw you.
48:28Way back.
48:30Me too.
48:32When you were a tennis superstar in the 70s,
48:34what was it like here
48:36in Ceausescu's communist Romania,
48:38and yet being able to leave the country
48:40and go to the bright lights of the West?
48:42Did you feel a bit of the two worlds?
48:44Well, it was difficult for me,
48:46because, you know,
48:48I was living mostly in the West
48:50and I play in the West all the time
48:52and when I have to play the Davis Cup
48:54I have to come back
48:56and I know the situation is not very good
48:58because my parents told me
49:00and what's happening.
49:02They have a good life,
49:04but the other people not.
49:06We're looking at New Europe
49:08and how it's changing.
49:10How much has Romania changed
49:12since the fall of communism?
49:14They have less money, unfortunately.
49:16I'm talking about general people,
49:18not the few of them
49:20who are very rich
49:22and they have not millions,
49:24but billions, some of them.
49:26But unfortunately, like I said,
49:28now freedom is there,
49:30but they cannot travel.
49:32Before they have the money to travel,
49:34they don't have the passport.
49:36Sorry, this is a slightly different tactic,
49:38maybe rather personal,
49:40but I did read a quote where you said
49:42250,000 women.
49:44No, 2,500.
49:462,500 women.
49:48It was not exactly like that,
49:50but I just said that
49:52well, I cannot tell the story
49:54because then the autobiography
49:56is not going to sell my books.
49:58No, no, no.
50:00I did with Debbie Beckham,
50:02she's English, I did a book
50:04and of course...
50:06That was a round for you.
50:08He came to me and asked me
50:10I said, I don't know,
50:12I never count them,
50:14but I said 30 years,
50:16I didn't put more than 30 years,
50:18I said 30 years,
50:20maybe three a month,
50:22four a month, five a month,
50:24it's almost 2,000.
50:26No, no, I said 800, 900.
50:28And then she said, no, no,
50:30it cannot be like this.
50:32First of all, it doesn't look
50:34for your reputation good,
50:36it doesn't look good for my book,
50:38I said 2,500, that sounds very good.
50:40So I said, that's what I said.
50:42But it's a joke, you know.
50:44I think I'll try and say that.
50:46I think you can get away with it,
50:48I probably can't.
50:50No, but it's, you know,
50:52you never count, you know.
50:54For me, the one who counts
50:56is the last one.
50:58In the villages and towns
51:00of northern Romania,
51:02we saw the legacy of the past respected.
51:04Ceausescu, the son of peasants,
51:06was told to do the same for Bucharest.
51:08He treated the capital as his plaything,
51:10destroying lives and history
51:12in the process.
51:18Well, the time has come
51:20for me to leave this rather
51:22oddly endearing mess
51:24of a capital,
51:26which seems to have sort of
51:28got over the indignities of the Ceausescu years
51:30and becoming well on the way
51:32to becoming little Paris again,
51:34maybe little Milan.
51:36It's time to head on back to the Danube,
51:38my highway through Europe.
51:45At the spot where a Roman bridge
51:47once spanned this far frontier
51:49of their empire,
51:51I walk with Dan Badarau,
51:53who was born and brought up here.
51:55A national theatre actor,
51:57he's also much in demand to play baddies
51:59in American action movies.
52:01The ideal person, perhaps,
52:03to take me out of Romania.
52:10A massive hydroelectric plant
52:12has transformed this dramatic stretch
52:14of the Danube from a turbulent
52:16gorge called the Iron Gates
52:18to a wide, windswept sea.
52:20MUSIC PLAYS
52:30The gorge is...
52:32There.
52:34Yes.
52:36You'll see. It's fantastic.
52:38The whole thing narrows.
52:40It's very, very tight.
52:42The Danube here is like a big lake.
52:44Ahead of me and Dan,
52:46another gorge waits to be navigated.
52:48And now you'll see,
52:50one minute,
52:52a huge statue
52:54of our ancient king,
52:56Decebal.
52:58Really? Yes.
53:00Where is it?
53:02Just round the inlet there?
53:04Yes.
53:08Strange place for a statue.
53:12I still can't see anything.
53:14The ice.
53:16Oh, yes.
53:18Yes.
53:22Huge.
53:24Very good.
53:26And what does it say?
53:28Decebalus Rex.
53:30Decebalus Rex.
53:32Dragan fetit.
53:34Dragan made it.
53:36Yes.
53:38Who's Dragan?
53:40He brought his fortune in Italy
53:42and now he gives a gift
53:44for the Romanian people.
53:46For the Romanian people.
53:48The king Decebalus is a hero?
53:50He's a hero.
53:52He fights with the Romans.
53:54With Trajan,
53:56Emperor Trajan.
53:58Trajan, yes.
54:00Trajan, yes.
54:02As we approach the gorge,
54:04I experience a feeling
54:06that the Roman legionnaires
54:08might once have shared,
54:10of leaving a far-off outpost
54:12as the Danube carries me onwards.