‘Don’ t research these laws / For you are mad when you understand them’. Transylvanian poet George Coșbuc’s lyrics are mentioned twice at the end of ‘Blutholz‘ (the direct translation of the title would be ‘Blood wood‘), a film by the German TV director Torsten C. Fischer, made in 2022. Those who will see the film will understand the context in which these lines are spoken and how they find their place in a ‘noir’ thriller with ecological overtones, the action of which takes place in the town of Brașov in Central Romania and the nearby mountains. From the point of view of the German or Western European viewer in general, ‘Blutholz‘ is a suspense film that takes place in Transylvania, one of the exotic frontiers of Europe. For the Romanian viewer, the perspective is very different, because the main heroes of the film have a history, and this personal history is linked to the history of Romania in the last years of communism and to the political and social phenomena that have happened since then. I found the good documentation of the writers and director to be remarkable in creating a plot that is interesting as a thriller and credible to those who know the context.
Hans Schussler, ex-military and investigator specialized in disappearances and hostage negotiations, is sent to Romania to investigate the disappearance of the head of a company that deals with forestry business and the export of wood from the forests of Transylvania. His return to Romania is not easy, as he is a German who left the country in the 80s, afte having suffered the investigations of the Romanian secret police and the prisons of the communist period. The investigation is progressing with difficulty. Locals are suspicious of foreigners, attitudes don’t seem to have changed much, corruption seems to be everywhere and at all levels. The reunion with Silvia Dancu, a former friend from adolescence, who became a prosecutor with political ambitions, could help the investigation. Or maybe on the contrary, to complicate it. The ghosts and traumas of the past meet the harsh realities of the present. The case he investigates is connected by invisible threads to his own past.
The script is well written and manages to capture some of the essential elements of today’s Romanian realities. The action part is believable, and the thriller atmosphere is created by using the landscapes of Romania’s forests, which even after the destruction caused by overexploitation in recent decades remain the most extensive in Europe. Elements of folklore are used, including the Bear Dans practiced in the Carpathian area of Eastern Europe in the winter holidays season. Coincidentally, Cristian Mungiu’s latest film (‘R.M.N.’) also uses the same visual element. The acting is very good, with Joachim Król excellently playing the main role, of the investigator who comes to investigate yet another case, just to be confronted with his own past. The only miscasting was, I think, the role of Silvia, played by a German actress who clearly does not know Romanian or in any case speaks it with a terrible accent. The film being bilingual (German and Romanian), her text sounds very bad in Romanian. ‘Blutholz‘ is also interesting as a thriller, but also as a political and personal drama. Those who choose to see it will not go wrong.