Chuck Norris vs. Communism Page #2

---

No worries, Ill give you 200!

The future belongs

to socialism, communism,

to a world without imperialists

and capitalists.

Anything on TV was just as awful

as the food you could get to eat.

Everyone spoke about the same things,

about the endless lines,

about not having anything,

about the struggle to get things.

Everything was rationed, but not by us.

It came from above.

And whether we liked it or not,

we had to dance to their tune.

Raising the revolutionary,

socialist awareness.

We couldnt talk on the bus, for example,

about the amazing films we saw on video.

Because you never knew

who was sitting next to you.

It was underground.

Probably for the simple fact

that we were watching something

other than what was on TV.

Because what was on TV

was clearly just propaganda.

So even if we were watching films

with explosions and fights,

it was different from their propaganda.

Action films were fundamental for us boys.

You had all the Chuck Norris films.

Then the Van Damme films.

Like Bloodsport where Frank Dux

and Chong Li have an amazing fight.

I think we learned a lot,

Rambo was fighting bad men.

Chuck Norris went to save his friends,

risking a rat on his head.

The films changed what you thought,

what you were looking for,

what you were interested in.

You developed through films.

In Rocky I, hed wake up at 5:00 AM.

Hed put on that shabby

old tracksuit with a hood.

And hed go out for a run. Hed train.

And little me, who wanted to become big...

I set my alarm for 5:00.

Im not kidding!

I mixed the eggs.

God, it was awful, but I drank it.

I dressed warm like him, to sweat,

took two weights in my hands

and went for it.

There was a freshness and novelty...

that influenced you in so many ways.

From seeing the clothes,

the attitudes, the gestures...

We all wanted to have Rambos knife

with the needle and thread and all.

There was a whole life

in the video player.

We were watching films on videotape,

illegally copied from originals.

They were smuggled in illegally

and it was illegal to watch them.

I dont know where they got them.

There was a group of people who did this.

I dont know how they got the tapes.

People said they were coming on boats.

I would go or send someone to bring

new films two or three times a year.

You need courage to get in a car

and drive to get films

from an unknown world.

Open the trunk.

Take this.

Get lost!

I had an arrangement

with the border patrol

like for cigarette and drug trafficking

all over the world.

Not for one moment did I imagine

how big and valuable this would become.

No, theres no point discussing this one.

Look at all the meat!

Next one.

It was yet another endless meeting

at the Ideological Commission.

We were watching an episode of Nu, Pogodi!

A Russian animation.

Wait, stop!

Rewind that bunny.

What happened?

Stop!

Look, three balloons,

red, yellow and blue.

Unfortunately, the bunny

was carrying three balloons,

in the exact colors of the Romanian flag.

It had to disappear because it looked like

the Russians were controlling Romania.

What example are we setting

for our children? Think of the message.

Were cutting it.

It was totally absurd.

Translating for Zamfir,

I wasnt required to censor anything.

I could say priest.

Stinking communist.

I could say Easter.

God.

I could name any saint.

Father Christmas.

It seemed like a way to be free

and to spite the regime.

It was a way to win a battle.

At the time, I felt it made a difference.

She would never translate swear words.

Or anything connected to sex.

People would swear quite a bit

and wed hear Holy Moly.

And shed say, Go to hell.

The dirty words

were translated as Go to hell.

-To hell, yes.

-Thats what she said.

-No matter what crap they were saying...

-And also Get lost.

Get lost.

Go to hell or Get lost.

He tells her...

Irina Nistor says,

I was thinking, I love you, I need you

and you know what, go to hell!

Go to hell!

You moron!

Get out of my sight, you bacon fat!

Get lost!

Youre all idiots. You know why?

There was a secret police agent

in the TV station, Comrade Orzan.

We often met in the elevator

going to the same place.

Wed go up and I remember

each time hed say...

I heard you last night.

My stomach was tied in a knot.

Is he going to bring me in?

What film did he see?

The one where I said stinking communist?

It was the perfect way

to keep me on a knifes edge.

We did everything

without the authorities approval.

I can say it was all done...

quietly, underground.

My parents told me not to talk

about our video player in school.

They said its better that it should

remain a secret, but didnt explain why.

It was the attitude we all perceived,

to keep it obscure

and not talk about it.

I felt that everything was

under surveillance and controlled.

They knew everything, every step you made.

Zamfir suspected everybody

of being in the secret police.

He asked me every day,

Are you sure youre not one of them?

Irina Nistor was definitely connected

or had access to the secret services.

I never doubted that.

Because of the confidence and courage

she displayed when dubbing.

She was translating,

listening, talking and...

She understood everything!

She would have made a great spy.

She could have finished me.

I have to confess I also suspected him.

He had that schooling, that way about him,

the cold politeness

you couldve done without.

Theyre my horses, bastards!

Policemen!

One night Zamfir drove me home.

What do they want?

And something happened

which made me almost certain

that he was in the secret police.

How dare you stop me!

I am Colonel Zamfir.

Salute me.

Yes, sir.

So the policeman backed off in silence.

And I froze and kept my mouth shut.

When he got back into the car he said...

Why are you smiling?

To be honest, I didnt want to know

if Zamfir was in the secret police.

I took advantage.

It happened a few times.

But I could never have been a Colonel.

Come on, a beat officer,

I couldve told him anything

and hed buy it.

I had special license plates,

always wore a suit and tie.

Also my age helped, so yes,

I took advantage and I lied.

Esteemed viewers,

today, in the Palace Hall

of the Romanian Socialist Republic,

the National Conference of the Romanian

Communist Party has begun,

a highly important and significant moment

for the party and the country.

Romania was closed at the time,

people werent allowed passports.

Every year the situation deteriorated,

the political pressure intensified.

The divide between the regime

and the people was growing.

I think the regime was afraid

of spontaneous assembly.

Thats whats dangerous.

In an organized assembly,

certain topics come up.

In spontaneous assembly,

the topics are free.

Theres this joke,

a guy is on the bus with a bag

and he keeps shaking it.

People say Whats in there?

He says, Mice.

What are you doing?

Im not letting them organize.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes