Watch Philanthropy For Free

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The BEST Romanian Movie as i consider it, does not have in its distribution the best Romanian actor (or as he is called - the most "international" Romanian actor) - Marcel Iures. But seeing the movie i really cannot see a place for him in the context, because the story is simply so well built and the actors so well chosen. The advantage here i think, is that Romania does not have a very heavy film industry and Romanian actors work very much in the theater acting scene, which really increases an actor's skills.The story-line and truly the whole directing work are a miracle, giving a very well built movie, with very subtle irony, smart detailing, making it a must-see.The action takes place in a contemporary Bucharest (the movie was actually filmed in 1998-1999 or so, but its international release was delayed for some reason) and presents a harsh reality for the working intellectual in this country - love costs more than one can afford from one salary. Don't worry about understanding the changing rate from the leu-dollar (his salary was worth somewhere under 80$, 1 million lei valuing about 30-50 $ at that time, i can't remember). The message is very powerful and it will certainly leave some question marks about integrity and correctness, while showing a totally new way of viewing some of life's little details.

This post is intended as a reply to all my fellow Romanians who felt the urge to patriotically vote this movie as the best they've seen.This morning I was shocked to find Filantropica to be the 12th best movie ever voted in IMDb's comedy section. After reading the posts though (and, more important, their sources), I have come to realize that it's not the billions of moviegoers that fell in love with this (really) outdated film, but a handful of over-zealous Romanians who just felt this movie (and I will agree with them - it's one of our collapsed "movie industry"'s bests) should make it to the top just because we SHOULD have a notable presence in these ranks. I mean, come on! This website is not about being Romanian, or American, or Australian - this is the best resource for finding out if a movie's good or bad! This is how we, Romanians, lose all credibility - we're soooo biased that next time no one is gonna take our word for granted.The movie? Filantropica is OK, really. It's got its share of clichés, some of which might not be too noticeable for a person not knowing a lot about Romania, but it's enjoyable enough. The characters are quite crude, often lacking dimension, but remember, this is a satire. I didn't see a dubbed or subtitled version of the movie, so I cannot tell you how much is "lost in translation".To sum it up: yes, this is one of the best Romanian movies, but this should not be enough to propel it into Top 250. See it for yourselves and decide. If you have problems finding it, just PM me - I'll be happy to help you out!Toni.

In Romania they call it the 'transition' period. Whoever invented this term meant to describe the period between Communist Romania and a normal society, a period where people can recover dignity, learn speaking the truth and trust their human fellows. The issue is that in Romania, as in all other former Communist countries this period was marked by a great amount of dis-illusions, by many broken dreams and destinies as the recovery proved not to be easy neither on the economic not on human plans. The place of human relations was taken by tricks and robbery, the emptiness of the Communist slogans was replaced by the emptiness of the commercial TV, surviving as a human being is tough.'Filantropica' presents a point of view which may be unknown or hard to catch for many non-Romanian viewers. The Romanian literature and theater has a great satiric tradition, and the founder of absurd comedy theater Eugene Ionesco was of Romanian origin. This is where the villain characters in 'Filantropica' like the one of the master combinator played by Gheorghe DInica come from, although the figure of the little professor of literature dreaming to overcome his miserable condition (through money? through love?) played by Mircea Diaconu is as universal as a Benigni or Woody Allen would have created it.Some comments consider 'Filantropica' as the best film of the Romanian cinema. I believe that this is an exaggeration, there are certain flaws especially the extended and un-justified use of off-screen voice in the first part of the movie. 'Moartea Domnului Lazarescu' of Cristi Puiu, another movie inspired by the reality of the same period is a better film, with somehow a more optimistic message. Yet this is an important film about this complex period in the history of Romania.

First of all, Nae Caramfil's movie is a masterpiece, there no doubt about it. I'm convinced that the movie will take the Oscar award. There no sense for me to tell the story again because i think you all have seen it. The others, that haven't seen the movies don't miss it. It's the real thing.