So here’s why Balanta was my choice for this assignment. Using comedic irony to conduct a political analysis of Ceausescu’s regime from the point of view of two representants of the oppressed “intellectual class” (a doctor and a school teacher), it shares a peculiar characteristic with many early post-Decembrist Romanian films – the lack of non-diegetic sound. I’ve discussed this aspect with some friends and some believe that the lack of soundtracks on most Romanian films keeps the scenes grounded in reality even when things tend to get a bit surreal, while others think it stems from a Rennainscence type of situation, where the directors are trying to define a new wave of cinematic styles separating themselves by all means from what came out before 1989. Whatever the reason, the lack of music, along with my love for early ’90s movies, drove me to choose this as my project.