Graduation (Romanian: Bacalaureat) is a 2016 rumanian tragedy film produced, written, and directed by Cristian Mungiu.

Cristian Mungiu

Born in 1968, in communist Romania.

Won many prices in prestigious international festivals, like Palme d'Or in the Cannes Festival 2007 for his second feature film: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.

He has played a leading role in bringing the attention of the movies from Eastern Europe countries after the collapse of the communist regimes.

He commented that his cinema is about the ambiguities and complexities in life, and so is for for people who want to think.

Style: somewhat minimalistic, with a lot of attention to details and priorities: I work in a complicated way, to explore the inner feelings of the characters and whatever they think about, but to do this without using music and editing, just [using] very, very long takes. Shooting each scene in just one take, one shot actually, which is very complicated, speaks a lot about the philosophy behind it.

Movie

Won the "Best director" award in Cannes in 2016. There are only 83 shots, no music (only diegetic music).

According to Cristian Mungiu, the film was inspired by his own life at the time, while he was focusing on being a father. He also mentioned the thin line between compromise and corruption.

Movie set in Romania, land of gypsies, but there are none. More precisely in Transylvania, land of the vampires but there's no Dracula...

It can also be seen as a snapshot of the state of affairs of post-communist Romania and East European countries, depicting morality and societal decay through a relatively smaller and more nuanced, personal story.

Except, maybe, one could see the devastating impact of authoritarian and corrupt regimes, and their long lasting effects on societies even long after their collapse.