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TVTranscript
00:30National Day in Tiraspol, the capital of Transdniester, a place most people have never
00:59heard of. It's actually a breakaway 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 Transdniester, they have their own army, they have their
01:26own currency, but no single other country in the world recognises them. But today they
01:30recognise themselves. Transdniester, literally across the Dniester
01:37River, 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 Transdniestrians 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.
02:53After 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.
03:28Chisinau is not without its problems, but first impressions are of a likeable, surprisingly
03:33verdant, easy-going city. I take a walk in the park with Tatiana Tabulyak, a local journalist,
03:40and for a moment, it's like stepping back in time.
04:11living alone, with a very small pension. Some of them were just left alone, you know, they're
04:17not rich, they just have very poor conditions in life. And what they do, every Sunday, they
04:23just put a nice dress on themselves, make a little bit of makeup, you know, put medals,
04:29nice suits, and they're coming here just to meet each other. And a lot of love stories
04:37started here, you know. They're quite old, some of them, they're almost my age, you know.
04:49You can come here for a good dose of optimism for your week, you know.
04:54It's a place.
05:03See, when a man doesn't want to dance, a lady should have more courage.
05:09Oh, come on, man.
05:11Will you be able to leave?
05:16Yeah, there we go. Oh.
05:18Oh, it's not so bad.
05:19Can I just watch that now?
05:40Is there much regret at the passing of the old Soviet Union? Do people feel nostalgic at all
05:47here for those days?
05:50Actually, a lot. If you would ask all these people you see here, they would start crying,
05:56and they would say, we want back. Young generation, they are not so nostalgic,
06:03but we didn't even get too much from the Soviet period. I think people miss not the regime,
06:12they miss jobs, they miss pensions, they miss, I don't know, cheap food and good vacations.
06:22I also miss Soviet period, you know why? Because I was young, and I had my parents alive. And if
06:30this means to miss Soviet Union, yes, I miss, because I was a child, I had my grandparents,
06:37I went to all these places, everything seems to be so beautiful. But now, logically, of course,
06:43I'm so happy that it's not here, and I can be, I can speak with you today. 20 years ago,
06:50this would be a crime. I would probably have a file now, if you would come and I would tell you
06:55all these things, you know. And this is important to know and to keep in mind always. And everybody
07:02is nostalgic for something, but it's important to be realistic at one point.
07:07You miss the sensation of something, you miss the smell or the taste, but you cannot miss
07:12something which killed and made unhappy so many generations.
07:24Tatiana also helps run the UNICEF operation in Moldova, and tomorrow she's going to take
07:29me to a village outside the capital to see their work in action. Moldova is the poorest
07:36country in Europe, and many in the countryside can only support their families by working abroad.
07:42Those left behind are easy prey for drug dealers and people traffickers. With the help of UNICEF,
07:48the children of this village have put on a play to make people aware of the dangers that they face.
07:53It's a story about trafficking. So here's a typical Moldovan village. People wake up
08:01to go to work, probably, you'll see, to field. Trafficking is a big issue in Moldova, actually,
08:09because a quarter of the population is out, mainly women, working illegally.
08:16These are people who went abroad, and now they're coming back to recruit people for
08:21prostitution, for begging. Actually, they probably lived in the same village for many years,
08:27and now they come here because people, they trust them, because, you know, if you live with somebody
08:3220 years, you trust that person. And actually, we don't trust people, we don't trust the government,
08:39because people, they trust them, because, you know, if you live with somebody 20 years,
08:43you trust that person. And actually, these are the main traffickers.
08:48Local people coming back to their own village?
08:50People coming back, they promise them, like, two, three hundred dollars per month,
08:56and for them, this is huge money. They usually see, he injected some drugs to the girl,
09:03this is what is happening. Actually, they're living, like, three, four, five years
09:08drugged, and being forced to prostitute. And they come back, we have a lot of cases here,
09:15and we need years to recover them. Actually, children are very expressive.
09:22Imagine that every second has parents abroad. Every second child here?
09:27Every second child acting as parents abroad. Maybe they didn't see them for years, you know,
09:32five years, six years. They just receive money from them.
09:36Maybe that's why they're so good. They've just seen it on people's faces. I mean,
09:40it's the look on the faces, it's so intense, and they've, you know,
09:44it's full of feelings, isn't it, really? It's amazing.
09:48What you're doing here, the play, does it do any good at all,
09:51if people are just going to go anyway? Do 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. You should be very careful with who
10:07are you talking, who is taking you abroad. You know, this is, you want to do for this,
10:13and they are doing, actually. Of course people will go, but they will ask themselves ten times
10:20what they're doing, with who they're doing, you know.
10:24So what's happening now? She's being sold.
10:26She's being sold.
10:27What sort of money is involved when they're sold, do you know?
10:31Up to 5,000. But for this money she will have to work, like, years and years,
10:39in prostitution, years and years. We had cases when women were telling us that they've been
10:44forced to do, to sleep with 40 men per day. Young girls, like, 18 years old. This is a tragedy.
10:54It's appalling, yeah.
10:59In the end, good defeats bad, and those who are seized escape their tormentors
11:03and return to the village. It's been a moving performance to watch,
11:08but Tatiana remains a realist.
11:10It's a beautiful, happy moment. In life, it's not always like this.
11:25Through Tatiana, I meet Olga Maxim, who at 16 left Moldova to study as an actress in Romania.
11:45Though she now has a partner and child there, she comes home regularly to visit her mother
11:49and suggests I might like to go with her and see a quieter side of Moldovan life.
12:12Her mother lives in a farming village, a hour south of Chisinau.
12:17Yeah, I'm visiting here, her, quite often, once a month. We're coming every month.
12:23Alright. Brothers and sisters to visit.
12:27Yes.
12:28Yeah, I'm visiting here quite often, once a month, we're coming every month.
12:43Alright, you've got brothers and sisters to care for?
12:46Yeah, I have a sister.
12:47Olga's father died seven years ago, and her mother, Helena, lives alone in the family
12:51house.
12:52Mum's working.
12:59She wants you to do the work.
13:03Yes, exactly.
13:04Hello, hello.
13:05I should say hello.
13:06What should I say really?
13:07Buna ziua.
13:08Buna ziua.
13:09Buna ziua.
13:10Buna ziua.
13:11Buna ziua.
13:12Very nice to meet you.
13:13She's been very helpful to me.
13:14Yeah.
13:15But she is a crazy driver.
13:17Like many who've grown up in a world of communist collectives, Helena has learned the importance
13:23of having something of your own.
13:25Does she have to buy any food at all, or is she quite self-sufficient?
13:30No, she doesn't buy anything.
13:32She's growing everything in her garden.
13:35Or she buys sugar, or probably rice.
13:39Right.
13:41I mean, for sure.
13:42But everything that she grows in the garden, she has in there.
13:46What are her luxuries?
13:47I mean, what are things that she would like to spend her money on, apart from a new pair
13:51of garden gloves?
13:52Chocolate.
13:53Chocolate.
13:54Chocolate.
13:55Sweet.
13:56Sweet.
13:57Sweet.
13:58Sweet.
13:59Sweet.
14:00Sweet.
14:01Sweet.
14:02Sweet.
14:03Sweet.
14:04Sweet.
14:06Chocolate.
14:07Chocolate.
14:09Sweet things that she cannot grow in the garden.
14:12Oh, that's good.
14:13That she buys from the city.
14:15Yeah.
14:16I remember that.
14:18The rest, she has everything.
14:27She has everything.
14:28She's grown chickens and ducks and all these kinds.
14:32Helena gets up at four every morning.
14:34When I look at her garden, I can see why.
14:37Mum wants to show you her garden.
14:50Tomatoes.
14:51She grows tomatoes in here.
14:54And she grows all this herself and picks them and all that?
14:57Yeah.
14:58Yeah.
14:59Everything that she grows in here is for herself.
15:02Yes.
15:03Your family have lived here for generations, on both sides.
15:06Yeah.
15:07Yeah.
15:08Yeah.
15:09Yeah.
15:10Yeah.
15:11What did your father do?
15:12Well, my father was, he had kind of ruling jobs, you know.
15:18First, he was...
15:20In politics?
15:21He was a communist, actually.
15:23Yeah.
15:24Right.
15:25How they calling in the party, in the communist 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?
15:56Worse.
16:16I think that she thinks that things might go worse because of the economic situation.
16:24The salaries are very small and the prices are growing.
16:27And for 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,
16:34the things might go worse because of the economy, the level.
16:39Is she sort of, is she nostalgic for the communist times?
16:42Do you think it's bad?
16:44Do you want to be a communist?
16:47No.
16:48No?
16:49No.
16:51Despite 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.
17:05It's very nice, yes.
17:07No, no.
17:10And she's made the wine as well.
17:13But it must mean that...
17:14She wants to toast.
17:15Toast, oh yes.
17:16Yes, well, thank you.
17:18OK, cheers.
17:19Here's to Moldovan way of life, Moldovan food, to the best cook in Moldova.
17:29Are people more inclined now towards Romania and, 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?
18:07Maybe when I'm very old, maybe.
18:10No, maybe.
18:11You see, there you are, you see, a qualified person like yourself.
18:14You can't really work here.
18:21Here in the south of Moldova, old and new worlds meet in quite surreal circumstances.
18:35The country's top group, Zdobzidob, much influenced by folk music,
18:40has come here specially to reunite with a gypsy lady, known and loved by all as Grandma.
19:04Grandma
19:20Grandma won international fame, banging the drum for Moldova in the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest.
19:27They 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.
19:44It's confusing, I know, but it's very, very beautiful.
19:53In 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, and 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 right here, this is the Last Judgement scene,
20:39always at the entrance to remind people about 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.
20:51Behind that wall would be the altar,
20:53where no men of other religion and no women are ever allowed to go in,
20:57except nuns sometimes.
20:59And the wall here is called the Icon Wall, or the Iconostasis,
21:03which is one of the most marvellous parts of this church, basically.
21:08Is that gold leaf or gold?
21:10Yes, it's gold, yeah.
21:11It's carved in wood and it's covered with gold.
21:16And they're still working?
21:18And they're still working on it, yes.
21:20Gosh, that's such detail.
21:22Yeah, so much detail, so much time-consuming.
21:26How long have they been working?
21:28Just over 15 years now.
21:30It seems 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 as to why communist atheism made so little headway here,
21:56we'd look no further than this churchyard.
22:10The graveyard in the village of Aiud
22:12is packed with families here to remember their loved ones.
22:20The priest blesses each grave in turn.
22:27CHANTING
22:35Candles are lit and bread specially baked.
22:38Jornot, a local student, tells me why.
22:41This is one of the most important days of the year.
22:45Yeah.
22:46Because this is the day when we celebrate death.
22:51Right. Remember the dead.
22:54Yes, just like we celebrate the birth, the wedding.
23:00And this is the day when we remember the dead.
23:16It's not just relatives of the living who are remembered.
23:20Any member of a family who has died in the past 200 years can have their name read out.
23:31It's a touching image of the power of remembrance and continuity,
23:35and surely helps to make the work of the Grim Reaper seem a little less grim.
23:45After the Mass, I walk through the village with Jornot and his father Philemon,
23:49who have invited me back to their house to carry on the celebrations.
23:54Meanwhile, with the dead remembered, the living go back to work.
23:59DOG BARKS
24:16Despite the beauty of the countryside, life here is hard,
24:20and the way to find relief from the daily grind is usually with a strong drink and a good knees-up.
24:26I fear that Jornot and Philemon are no exceptions.
24:33With Jornot's mother keeping a beady eye out in the background,
24:37the first of several toasts is raised.
24:40Cheese and sausage is on the table, and in the glass, palinka,
24:44a fiery eau de vie made from apples and pears.
24:50And with an awful inevitability, one thing leads to another.
24:56LAUGHTER
25:04And another.
25:26MUSIC
25:40Why can't they just have afternoon tea like anyone else?
25:45MUSIC
25:56Next morning, I find myself and my hangover aboard a horse and cart,
26:00along with Clara, whom I'd met last night at the party.
26:05We're in the town of Sapanta, and perhaps appropriately, in view of how I feel,
26:10on our way to another cemetery.
26:12Are we here? Yeah, 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 Stan Patras.
26:22It's nice that all... I mean, the usual symbols of death,
26:25the skulls and the grim reapers, they don't have those.
26:28It's life, it's... I mean, this one here.
26:31Yeah, this one, it's very... What's that?
26:33This one is not so sad, actually.
26:35Here it's about a very happy man who lived a very happy life.
26:40He liked to drink wine and palinka and 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... No, they don't say the age exactly,
26:53but he lived a very happy life, so he also, I think, he died very happily.
26:57Yeah. So... I quite like that.
27:00I like that in my grave, actually.
27:02Here lies so-and-so, so-and-so.
27:04You can have a little sort of picture of me.
27:07Yeah, it's an idea to...
27:09Wouldn't you, just sort of some bit of your life celebrated,
27:12rather than, you know, sort of rather...
27:15How you... Just the word.
27:17Yeah, yeah, yeah. The rather grim stuff.
27:19Celebrate life. Yeah, yeah, I think it's very nice, yeah.
27:22And the people are much more enjoyable when they read that,
27:26about you and what you've done.
27:28I think that's what you want to remember. Of 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.
27:38Yes, accidents. This one here, for instance.
27:40So it's a bittersweet combination.
27:43Yeah, this one is also... What's that? What does that say?
27:45Yeah, it says there's a little kid,
27:47and it's about a cab driver, who drove a cab,
27:51and the girl wondered,
27:53why that cab should stop near the house and kill me?
27:58From all this country, he couldn't find another place,
28:01but next to our house, where I was living and stayed by, nearby,
28:06and the cab killed her.
28:08So then she's also...
28:10So that describes what happened.
28:12Yeah, 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...
28:27Yeah, they... Takes the curse off it somehow.
28:29Celebrates her short life. Yeah, 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, pleasure
28:41and the preoccupations of life in Maramures.
29:00It's a region that's not overflowing with job opportunities,
29:04but the forest, high above one of its most remote valleys,
29:08has for many years provided local men with work.
29:14It's Monday morning and I'm joining the train
29:17which takes about 80 lumberjacks up into the forest.
29:20No comment.
29:30Morning. Morning.
29:32Hi.
29:34Well...
29:36I don't have a ticket. Do I need a ticket?
29:38No.
29:40Just need an interest in trees.
29:42Ah.
29:59MUSIC PLAYS
30:24The more beautiful it gets, the colder it gets.
30:27The only heating's in the engine.
30:29SCREAMS
30:54This isn't luxury travel, but they're lumberjacks.
30:57They're OK.
31:27It may not look like it, but things have changed
31:30for 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.
31:53At 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. It's a pig.
32:10And usually take a bit of this and you must chill with...
32:13Do you? Yes, of course, let's do it.
32:15Is this... Let's do it.
32:17Is this very... You must trust in me.
32:19Very sort of typical of Maramure?
32:22Typical of Maramure.
32:24OK, what do you do?
32:26Dip it in there? No, no, no.
32:28Oh, just all right. Just a bit in.
32:33Cheers. Noroc. Noroc.
32:37Yeah, quite salty and...
32:40It's not spicy. It's good.
32:42Well, it's not fat, but I like it.
32:44It's fat, but with trichol...
32:46No, no, it's fine, fine.
32:48We used to have dripping when I was young.
32:50Yes.
32:52We used to have dripping on bread.
32:54We'd have that, but now nobody...
32:56Ooh, nobody has it, you know.
32:58It's kind of shocking.
33:00Far too much sort of bad, you know,
33:02sort of bad things for you.
33:04But I think it's...
33:06A little bit every now and then.
33:12Having probably shortened my life by a good few years,
33:15it's time to leave this otherwise delightfully clean
33:18and healthy mountain air
33:20with the timber.
33:33Well, I've come south from Maramures,
33:35with its merry preoccupation with the dead,
33:37to Transylvania,
33:39with its rather more sinister preoccupation
33:41with 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.
33:59The town was fortified 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 the Germans
34:16lived 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 was born here,
34:27and is still remembered.
34:29Joanna 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 Dracula,
34:46the father of Vlad the Impaler.
34:48Yeah.
34:50And maybe he was born right here.
34:52But who was he?
34:54He was a great voivode, you know?
34:56Voivode? No, what's a voivode?
34:58A prince.
35:00A prince, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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, really.
35:10He defended very well his people,
35:12and he beat the Turks.
35:14Yeah.
35:16He did a bit of impaling, though, didn't he?
35:18It wasn't very nice, was it?
35:20It was a good thing, because he loved justice,
35:22and it was a habit, you know, all around.
35:24Was it? Everybody was impaling everybody else?
35:26Yes!
35:28We think the medieval times were 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.
36:02Or a cup of tea.
36:04Before impalings.
36:06Can we have those two? Thank you very much.
36:08I have 300.
36:10300?
36:12It's good, this.
36:14OK, fine.
36:16And if 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 to the gentle
36:40Transylvanian 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.
36:58Welcome to my castle.
37:02Come with me.
37:04Be my guest.
37:06Come on.
37:08The Einer's friend Peter has to be one of them.
37:10It doesn't look well.
37:12Come into me.
37:14My friend.
37:18You first.
37:20No, you first.
37:22Oh, dear.
37:24Into the little passageway syndrome.
37:26Bring the garlic.
37:28It's Jane.
37:42It's there.
37:50These rooms were actually done up
37:52in the 1920s by Queen Marie,
37:54wife of King Carol.
37:56When Romania still had a royal family.
37:58Sorry. Sorry.
38:00Back to the story.
38:02Girls.
38:04Girls.
38:26Transylvania.
38:28Oh, Transylvania.
38:30In Transylvania,
38:32you can see very strange things.
38:34Tell me.
38:38But I have more.
38:42My revenge has begun.
38:44I spied it
38:46over the century
38:48and time
38:50is on my side.
38:52I've seen a lot of Romania's
38:54unchanged rural byways.
38:56Now it's time to head for the capital,
38:58Bucharest,
39:00to find out how modern Romania
39:02has been shaped.
39:04And, as happens on trains,
39:06they end up learning a thing or two
39:08on the way.
39:10I couldn't help noticing your book you're reading
39:12is by Cioran, is it?
39:14Yes, it is.
39:16It's a book by Cioran.
39:18It's a book by Cioran.
39:20It's by Cioran, is it?
39:22Cioran. Yeah.
39:24Because I've just read in my guidebook
39:26there's a great bit here about
39:28Emil Cioran, the philosopher
39:30published on the Heights of Despair,
39:32setting out the nihilist anti-philosophy
39:34that the only valid thing
39:36to do with one's life is to end it.
39:38But continued
39:40to expound this view
39:42until he was 84.
39:44Yeah, quite so, yeah.
39:46So is he well-known?
39:48Yes, he is.
39:50He's one of the Romanian
39:52biggest 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 sort of
40:02respect and admire
40:04philosophy more than they do in England.
40:06Is that so? Really?
40:08We don't really have great philosophers.
40:10People aren't interested.
40:12We have Shakespeare. Shakespeare 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 that Romania must have felt itself
40:30to be part of Europe.
40:32Romania has
40:34in one way, in one time
40:36in its history
40:38elected to be in eternity.
40:40To have no connection with historical time
40:42because it's a terror of history.
40:44Romania is 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.
41:14Have I been
41:16flown back to London overnight?
41:32Perhaps
41:34I never left Maramures?
41:40Ah!
41:42Now I understand, of course
41:44I'm in the American West.
41:46Hello!
41:48You're Bogdan.
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 make-believe
41:58worlds here at Castel Film Studios.
42:00It's a Romanian
42:02success story with international
42:04hits like Cold Mountain shot here
42:06and another American movie
42:08currently in production.
42:12How 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 directions.
42:20Markets were collapsing.
42:22Systems were
42:24collapsing 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.
42:32You know,
42:34it seems crazy.
42:36But in the end, now it seems to be
42:38a very successful business
42:40a very successful business.
42:50Bucharest, a sprawl of some 2 million people,
42:52has been a capital
42:54for 350 years.
42:58But it's the traumatic recent history
43:00shaped by the communist dictator
43:02Nicolae Ceausescu, who ran
43:04the place for 25 years,
43:06that is stamped all over it.
43:08That building in front of us there,
43:10the white building,
43:12was the central committee of the
43:14communist party.
43:16This is where the
43:18revolution in 1989
43:20started in Bucharest.
43:22This is where a big
43:24crowd of people was gathered
43:26in December 1989
43:28by Ceausescu,
43:30strangely enough,
43:32in a big rally
43:34to support
43:36communism, actually.
43:38And people started to
43:40to boo him and to
43:42to, in 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 dictators.
44:24And this was
44:26the result. Ceausescu's
44:28Palace of the People, after the
44:30Pentagon, the second largest building
44:32in the world.
44:36It now houses,
44:38amongst other things, the Romanian
44:40Parliament. And I'm shown round by
44:42another 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 the
44:56people which were brought here by
44:58force. Some of them died.
45:00Thousands of
45:02houses 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.
45:20It was the idea to bomb it from the place.
45:22In the end,
45:24it was easier to keep it.
45:26The headache for Bogdan and his colleagues
45:28now is how to fill the space.
45:42The statistics
45:44are staggering.
45:46Begun in 1984,
45:4820 years later,
45:50begun in 1984,
45:5220,000 labourers and 700
45:54architects work 24
45:56hours a day to build
45:58over 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.
46:16There's a nuclear bunker
46:1860 to 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.
46:36Here 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.
46:44Minor mistake.
46:46If he had the time, probably he would have built
46:48a second building.
46:50Was that based on the Champs-Élysées?
46:52I wouldn't say
46:54it's based on the looks
46:56but it's certainly based on the size.
46:58He wanted to have a boulevard
47:00longer and wider and he managed
47:02to have it longer and wider.
47:04It's a little bit wider and a little bit longer
47:06and no 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
47:18and 30s when Bucharest
47:20was known as Little Paris.
47:28Of course, there have been golden days for Romania
47:30since then, many of which involved
47:32their world number one tennis player
47:34of the 1970s, Ilia Nastase.
47:40Oh!
47:42What can I say?
47:44I've never been in a tennis superstar's
47:46home before.
47:48I'm not anymore.
47:50I have a house but I'm not a superstar.
47:52Well, there you are.
47:54That was the superstar days.
47:56There's one with the ugly Chiriak there also.
47:58How long have you been in this house?
48:0033 years.
48:02Have you ever wanted to live in another city?
48:04Yes, New York and 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.
48:18Seriously.
48:20I'm not playing tennis.
48:22I know your face but I don't know
48:24from where but I saw you.
48:26It's all way back.
48:28Me too.
48:30When you were a tennis superstar
48:32in the 70s, what was it like
48:34here in Ceaușescu's
48:36communist 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 two worlds?
48:44It was difficult for me
48:46because I was living
48:48mostly in the West
48:50and I play in the West all the time
48:52and when I have to play Davis Cup
48:54I have to come back
48:56and I know the situation is not very good
48:58because my parents told me
49:00what's happening.
49:02They have a good life but the other people not.
49:04We're looking at New Europe
49:06and how it's changing.
49:08How much has Romania changed since the fall of communism?
49:10Unfortunately, I think that
49:12people have more freedom
49:14but they 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
49:34Sorry, this is a slightly
49:36different tactic, maybe rather personal
49:38but I did read a quote where you said you slept with
49:40250,000
49:42Sorry, no, 250,000 women.
49:44No, 2,500.
49:462,500 women.
49:48It was not exactly like that
49:50but I just said that
49:52I cannot tell the story because then the autobiography
49:54is not going to sell my books.
49:56No, no, no. I did
49:58with Debbie Beckham, she's English
50:00I did a book
50:02and of course
50:04That's a round figure.
50:06He came to me and asked me
50:08how many girls do you think you sleep with?
50:10I said, I don't know, I never counted
50:12but I said
50:1430 years, I put 30 years
50:16and I didn't put more than 30 years
50:18I said 30 years, maybe
50:20three a month, four a month
50:22five a month, it's almost
50:242,000.
50:26No, no, I said 800, 900
50:28and then she said, no, no, it cannot be like this.
50:30First of all, it doesn't look for your reputation good
50:32it doesn't look good for my book
50:34can't sell the book
50:36and then I said, okay
50:382,500, 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, I probably can't
50:48No, but it's, you know, you never count
50:50you know, for me
50:52the one who counts is the last one.
50:56In the villages and towns
50:58of northern Romania
51:00we saw the legacy of the past respected
51:02Ceausescu, the son of peasants
51:04signally failed to do the same
51:06for 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
51:34or maybe little Milan
51:36It's time to head on back to the Danube
51:38my highway through Europe
51:44At the spot where
51:46a Roman bridge once spanned
51:48this far frontier of their empire
51:50I walk with Dan Badarau
51:52who was born and brought up here
51:54A national theatre actor
51:56is also much in demand to play
51:58baddies in American action movies
52:00the ideal person perhaps
52:02to escort me out of Romania
52:10A massive hydroelectric plant
52:12has transformed this dramatic stretch
52:14of the Danube from a turbulent gorge
52:16called the Iron Gates
52:18to a wide windswept sea
52:24Music
52:30The gorge is
52:32there
52:34you'll see
52:36it's fantastic
52:38the whole thing narrows
52:40very very tight
52:42the Danube here is like a big lake
52:44ahead of me and Dan
52:46another gorge waits to be navigated
52:48now you'll see
52:50one minute
52:52a huge statue
52:54of
52:56our ancient king
52:58Decebal
53:00where is it?
53:02just round the inlet there
53:08strange place for a statue
53:12I still can't see anything
53:14the eyes
53:16oh yes
53:18the nose
53:20huge
53:22very good
53:26what does it say?
53:28Decebalus Rex
53:30Dragan
53:32Fetid
53:34Dragan made it
53:36who's Dragan?
53:38he brought his fortune in Italy
53:40and now
53:42he gives a gift
53:44for the Romanian people
53:46the king Decebalus
53:48Decebalus was a hero
53:52he fought with the Romans
53:54with Trajan
53:56emperor Trajan
53:58Trajan yes
54:02as we approach the gorge
54:04I experience a feeling
54:06that the Roman legionaries might once have shared
54:08of leaving a far off outpost
54:10as the Danube
54:12carries me onwards
54:18the Danube
54:20the Danube
54:22the Danube
54:24the Danube
54:26the Danube
54:28the Danube
54:30the Danube
54:32the Danube
54:34the Danube
54:36the Danube
54:38the Danube
54:40the Danube
54:42the Danube
54:44the Danube
54:46the Danube
54:48the Danube