METRONOM

The year is 1972; Nikolai Ceausescu has ruled Romania with an iron fist for seven years. Politics don't mean much to 17-year-old Ana (Mara Bugarin), who is mainly concerned that the family of the boy she is crushing on is emigrating to Germany in a few days. They meet at a classmate's house party, where the guests listen to the Doors on Radio Free Europe and make plans to resist Communism. Ana is humiliated by the boy and goes for a walk to clear her head. When she returns, the house is full of secret police interrogating the revellers about a letter. Everyone, including Ana, is arrested. Director Alexandru Belc's mesmeric film punches home how terrifying even the unspoken possibility of violence can be. And yet it is apolitical Ana who resists ratting on her friends. Her teenage petulance and romantic drive give her unexpected moral resolve to withstand authority.