In 2007, a young theology student discovers that,
in the fresco in the apse of St. Eleftherios Church in Bucharest,
Child Jesus held by the Madonna is wearing a labor camp coat.
The news would have passed unnoticed if the fresco hadn't been found
to have been painted 50 years before by Father Arsenie Boca,
who even then was considered the Saint of Transylvania.
He had just been released from the Danube-Black Sea Canal
Ouch! Something stung me!
I'll rub on some ointment when we get there.
I can't take it any more, I feel like I'm going to burst.
Think of something beautiful.
Nothing beautiful comes to mind.
Well, think of the Garnier Opera in Paris.
I, alone in the stalls.
You come on stage.
You're beautiful,
in a festive robe, and start the Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore aria from Tosca.
After washing dishes in restaurants for a few years, that is.
Oh my, I forgot something!
Well, you didn't forget this teddy bear!
What, your toothbrush? No, something important!
Your pajama?
Ouch! It stung me again!
What did you say you lost?
I can't take the mosquitoes any more, why didn't we cross the border on dry land?
Because we'd have been like Mache...
What happened to Mache?
He stepped on a sleeping border guard!
Enough, you two!
Once evening falls we're as good as through.
I'm scared.
You're cold, that's why you're trembling.
No, I think we're doing something foolish.
Please, Anuca!
Now say a prayer in your head.
Angel, my little angel, given to me by God.
Adrian, what do we do now? What can we do?
Let's go back.
We split up!
Ninel, don't leave me!
Freeze! Don't try to flee if you want to stay alive!
That was a warning shot. Give yourselves up!
Don't make us shoot you!
Stay where you are!
Don't try to flee or the Danube will swallow you!
You have families, think about who's waiting for you at home!
You have mothers who'd want to see you again!
We don't want to shoot you!
Stop diving or you'll get ripped by the propeller!
You don't stand a chance!
Anuca! Anuca!
Stay where you are!
Don't move or I'll put a hole in you!
Come closer!
Give me your hand!
What do you have in the bag, weapons?
No weapons. You can check.
Hold him, man, hold him!
Anuca! Anuca!
Your comrade is alive!
I got a gun aiming at you!
Stay where you are!
WHITE GATE
This film is based on real events.
Get off! Move! Come down!
Faster, get a move on!
Come on, get out, what are you dragging your feet for? Move!
Come on, old man! Come on, get out already!
Faster!
Move,man! What are you, lame?!
Line up!
Move! Move! Faster!
Five, fifteen... Number three, number four...
White Gate Penitentiary september 1949
Hold it, don't move!
Twenty five, thirty, thirty five...
Wake up, you bandits, wake up!
Come on, move, move!
ANA PAUKER AND DEJ HAVE STRUCK FEAR IN THE HEART OF THE BOURGEOIS
Come on! Line up!
Closer! Closer!
Stand at attention!
Have you preached against the communists?
In here I am your God!
In here you do what I want, not what God wants!
Are we building the Canal?
We're building the Canal!
Louder!
We're building the Canal!
You have the honor of building the Danube-Black Sea Canal!
Are we building the Canal?
We're building the Canal!
I'm asking everyone! Are we building the Canal?
We're building the Canal!
Face left!
Singing, forward march!
At the Canal we're wiping clean the stain of misdeeds past
we're opening roads with our shovels with renewed drive.
And soon the waves shall carry word
that we've given our dear country a new life and a Canal!
Keep the ranks close!
Come on, move! Faster!
Why are you just standing there?
Come on, professor, move!
You call this a loaded wheelbarrow?
Where the fuck you think you are?
Hey, hold it! It's his first day here!
Hold on, I'll work in his place,
I'm begging you!
Damn lazy asses!
What are you doing, you dummy, grab the shovel!
Are you OK? Pick him up.
It's not too bad, it'll pass in a few days.
Keep away from the brigadiers.
They're common criminals with heavy sentences.
Stanica is in for murder.
I'm a doctor. Victor.
Adrian.
Can you walk? Yes.
Smell of clay, scorch and tumbleweeds.
Faster! Push it!
Get a move on, don't make me come down there!
You don't like work, you lazy bums!
Come on, man! Go!
Adrian, I have a message from the honorable lawyers.
They say that you have to make a sling out of braided ropes,
you tie the ends to the wheelbarrow handles and hitch the sling over your head.
Come on, man! Go!
What are you doing, you dummy, grab the shovel!
Come on, move!
The hon. lawyers say that you have to fasten a girdle tight around your waist unless you want a hernia.
Go and tell the hon. lawyers that a hernia wouldn't be too bad.
The bosses are going to have to sign me into the hospital.
Come on, move!
I got another one.
The hon. lawyers say that signing is done straight into the grave.
Why are you here?
I c..cussed a I..lady...
What did you call her?
A wh... whore.
That's what you called Mrs. Ana Pauker?
Are you students?
Yes, polytechnics.
The army of angels in heavens is not yet complete.
I'm a thrall and you're my trawler.
What's with you, Petre?
Look at our country, buddy, our country...
What, are you grossed out by snakes?
They go bad in the heat. They're more tender that way.
Want a taste? It's better than roast chicken.
That's it, Truica. That's it.
Stop or I'll shoot!
Hey, don't shoot! Don't shoot!
Where did you go?
Don't shoot, he's got a baby at home!
Stop! Or I'll shoot!
Hold it, don't run!
Don't shoot!
Heeey, don't shoot!
You stop when I tell you to!
Don't shoot, he's crazy!
He doesn't know what he's doing! He went off his rocker!
Stop, you bandit, I'll shoot!
Boo! Boo! Boo! Murderers!
Why did you shoot, you murderer?
Vasile! Can't you hear me? Careful!
Why did you kill him?
Down on the ground!
Anybody moves and he shoots! Everybody down!
Did you see how he nailed him?
First shot.
Did you know he gets two weeks leave for this?
Adrian, I don't think I can take it any more. I can't.
Goddammit!
Hey, light the lamp, the fuckin' lamp!
Boss sir, the bulb is smashed.
Could you give us a match?
What did you say?
Matches? Ain't no more matches!
There's a crisis, we done run outta matches.
Just don't any of you get a bug up your ass and do what that guy's done!
Goddammit!
We're building the Canal! We're building the Canal!
Come on, move it! Move it, old man, no dawdling!
Vasile, Transylvania builds the Canal!
My name is Campus. Thanks.
They didn't smash.
Thank you.
I am a jeweler. Goldsmith.
If you don't mind, what's the time?
They call 'em owls.
They work, eat and don't say a word.
I heard he did five years in Siberia, and now it's our guys that got him.
Give me that piece of wood, please.
It's rosehip.
You want a souvenir from the Canal?
I'll make a cross pendant out of it.
What are you looking at me like that for?
You laughed like her. You laughed like your sister! Like Anuca!
I hope at least she got away...
I'll never forgive myself, it was my idea!
Ninel, stop talking nonsense.
We all wanted it.
We all wanted it, all three.
Father. Father, the food is here.
Look, private! Look for him!
We'll find him if we have to search every rat hole!
I got six...
Only fourteen.
Reporting, 14 inmates in the infirmary!
It's bad, one's missing!
Comrade commandant, reporting, nothing in the wood shop!
Hey, up there in the tower, you see something?
Reporting, there's no one!
Move it, private!
What did you find?
Reporting, comrade commandant, nothing in the shacks!
Every brigadier run a head count one more time!
See who's missing!
Five, ten, fifteen...
thirty, thirty five, forty...
fifteen, twenty five... thirty...
What is it? You should know...
The monk's missing! Where is he missing?!
I don't know, he was here at lunchtime, then I don't know where he went to.
We are screwed, man! Screwed!
Hey, who's calling assembly?
Maybe he's in another brigade. What's that?
Maybe he's in another brigade.
Reporting, brigade no. 2, 45 inmates!
You sure? Count again. You get it wrong every time!
The monk's missing! Is he with you?
Reporting, brigade no. 4, 50 inmates!
Reporting, brigade no. 5, 40 inmates!
Where could he have vanished to?
The monk must have been cooking this for a while.
I don't think so, he's a reliable man.
Write it down, so we can call assembly.
Come on, write already, I can't remember the count!
Hold still, I can't count you!
Reporting, brigade no. 7, 40 inmates!
Reporting, brigade no. 8, 45 inmates!
Reporting, brigade no. 9, 50 inmates!
Reporting, brigade no. 10, 45 inmates!
Get it out of your head, not one of you's escaping here!
He's back, he's back! He's here, he's back!
Reporting, brigade no. 11, 45, full complement!
Reporting, brigade no. 12, 50 inmates!
Let me write that down, how many did you say?
50, sir!
Reporting, brigade no. 13, 50 inmates!
You got us all in a frenzy, Father? Where have you been?
Mother's funeral.
Where?
A village in the Apuseni Mountains.
What, where?
And I'm supposed to believe you?
Come on, tell me when I ask you.
Apuseni? It's two days away from here.
Are you mocking me?
Are you taking me for a fool?
Watch out, watch out!
Name? loan Trandafir.
Tonight you're getting your beating ration.
I can't hold the shovel in my hands any more!
I have an idea. You worked carpentry.
I'll get beaten up again, Adrian.
Wherever you go, they work you over like the first day.
I'll catch a beating.
You're getting a whacking, suckers!
Jerk offs!
You're getting the belt over your ass!
Leave us alone! Git! Go away!
You're the ones mouthing off?
Pants down!
What's with them?
Common criminals. They call them penguins.
So what do they call us?
The border people, cranes, the political prisoners, pheasants.
And if I don't manage my quota tomorrow?
One night solitary, standing up, next day back to work!
I came to support you too.
Adrian, I stood in line at the cafeteria, I stood in line for tickets to the theater,
at the cinema, at the operetta, I never thought I'd stand in line for a beating!
Come on, pants down!
Ready?
Ninel, let's go to the wood shop.
Please.
Come on, follow me,
and if God forbid something happens I'll hold them off 'till you get some distance!
Cut the chitchat and go to your shacks!
Come on, please.
Enough chatter, back to the shacks!
Come on, man, if they hit, I hit back and I split!
You don't risk anything.
Hey, hey, scram, we'll get in trouble!
One second, boss, the boy is a carpenter and works unloading.
He'd like to keep his skills up.
He doesn't want anything from you, just to help.
You a carpenter?
Carpenter, sir.
Let's see what kind of carpenter you are. Get over here.
Grab that saw, give it a trim, sharpen it.
Fine, enough, now sharpen it.
All right, that's fine.
You know how to make a dovetail joint?
I do.
Here, you got a print, tools, materials, let's see those skills.
Yep, you're good, toady. You know the job.
Why didn't you say so before?
Tell who? Us!
Hang on, write down your name and shack.
Father!
Father, I thought I'd try...
My wife, she's been ailing since the birth and they can't figure it out...
I'll pray for her.
And I'll take care of you too, I'll take you off digging rock.
But you're going to have to do something too.
What?
You take her to church and baptize her.
But how do you know I have a girl?
You take her to your village, to Obreja, to Father Augustin.
Hey, which one's Trandafir?
Me, sir. Get over here.
Are you really a carpenter? Carpenter, sir.
Why didn't you say anything? I said in the interrogation.
Damn you're stupid, boy! Who was I supposed to tell, sir?
Come on, grab your gear, quickly.
Atten-tion!
Clothes off!
By your feet!
Faster! Faster, goddam' you!
Come on, faster!
Faster, come on!
Look at that damn thing!
Hey! Hey! Get these damn snakes outta here!
Private, it's gonna jump me, get it away from here!
I'll stick you in solitary, you bandits!
They don't bite, Comrade Colonel.
You're bringing snakes into the colony, you bandits!
Pity we pulled the fangs.
You'll pay for that!
You're mocking the organs [of authority]!
I heard they allowed you visitation.
Yes, my mother's coming.
You know architect Enescu?
Uncle Nelu? Yeah, we're family acquaintances.
He's really sick, in the infirmary, only streptomycin might help him.
His wife should find out.
Could you try giving the message to your mom?
Sure.
Ninel, think it over really well. Would your mother take that risk?
I'll do all I can.
OK. Be really careful at visitation.
Welcome, Chairman of Timisoara Military Tribunal, sir!
Is it really Stefanescu?
This guy, even doing nothing he would put you away for five years.
Isn't anybody jumping to make room for him?
I got it from home.
Thank you so much.
What are you in for?
I gave a fugitive a piece of bread and you gave me seven years.
Move it, move it!
Talk strictly personal things. Forbidden to talk about anything else!
How's father?
He's good, dear, now he's good.
At first, he couldn't eat for two weeks when he heard about you.
Vlad, what happened to you?
Vlad, I know it's hard, but try to hold on! You have to keep fighting!
How's auntie Rodica?
Watch out!
Haven't seen her in a long time.
She's fine, she's fine.
When I get out of here I want to take the exam with uncle Nelu.
He's very sick
I' m fine.
Vlad, you have to fight, we need you!
Vlad, think of mom!
It's been fine since working as a carpenter, I'm eating well, I'm allowed streptomycin...
I'll go see Mrs. Enescu first thing tomorrow.
What did they do to you? Vlad, what happened to you?
What did they do, Vlad? What did they do?
Get her out of here! Faster, get her out!
What did you do to him, you bastards? What did you do to him?
What for? No! Leave me alone!
Visitation over, inmates to the shacks!
He's innocent!
Get a move on!
Come on!
What are you standing there for? Move it.
This is luxury items. They go to the quota busters.
Mother and auntie Gri... My aunt, Grigorita.
They're homemade sweets.
Please, boss sir, let me smell them just once.
Your auntie Grigorita can kiss my ass!
Go on, scram! Hey, the parcel!
Enough with the washing and get your butt in formation!
Move it!
Come on, old man, what are you dragging your ass for?!
Come on, Mr. Campus. Hold on, Mr. Campus.
Only the thought of seeing my wife one more time...
Line up for head count!
Hold him, hold him.
Petre...
Petre, are you ok? Yeah... I'm ok.
Why did you stop? Move it, move it, let's go!
Let's put his head over here, we can keep an eye on him.
Petre, Petre...
Bubba Chis! Bubba Chis!
Petre, can you hear me?
In my mouth the words are all wounds...
Look at me.
Blood clots are coming out of my mouth...
He was reciting some poetry earlier too.
He was arrested for some poems in the first place.
He should go to the hospital. Petre...
Few are those upon whom God has bestowed a gift like yours, Petre.
Who are you?
You have to write, Petre.
God sent you here to see.
See what?
What else to see?
Come on, you political bum, get up!
Come on, up, to work!
Come on, move it, move it!
Sir, he's sick, he should be taken to the infirmary.
No more room.
At least let a doctor see him.
Is he eating? He can still eat.
Then he doesn't need a doctor!
Go! Put some speed into it!
NO TRESPASSING, VIOLATORS WILL BE SHOT WITHOUT WARNING
Mister inmate, if you go through there,
soldier's a soldier, he shoots you and you die where you stand.
Then you come to me, all like: I didn't know, I'm sorry!
Respects, Father. Do you have a better shovel?
Bravo, but it's all for nothing... It's already here.
Screw you, asshole!
What is it, Petre?
If I kept silent I'd die...
What are you doing over there?
Whatever I learned in the slammer.
Adrian! Adrian, if anything happens to me, you take my sweater, OK?
Yeah, fine.
And you take care of it if it's the last thing you do. Adrian, you promise?
Of course, Petre, I promise.
I printed into it five poems.
I'll go get you a wet compress.
I made knots on the wool thread in Morse,
one knot for a dot, two knots for a line.
I hid them here, in the wool of the sweater.
I knit them in.
Can you feel?
I didn't know you could do such a thing...
I've got something to say, Adrian.
Hey Campus, wake up, that brute is coming!
Come on, wake up!
Heey! Heey!
He's dead, poor devil.
Smells like meat!
Meat? Meat?
Come on! Open it, come on!
Man, it stinks!
Grab it and unload!
Take it, Ion, you got lucky!
Everyone listen up!
Preparing for release are: Cira Petre!
Here.
Blaj Eugen!
Blaj Eugen, where are you?
Here.
Campus Eduard!
Deceased.
Take both of them to registration.
Fine.
Hey, you two, grab your rags and assemble on me!
Bravo, Petre!
- You got your sweater on, Petre. - Yes.
Agonized, agonized, among living and demised
the most living of the dead, round and round the gates they tread.
Come by our gates too, Petre.
Move it!
Don't forget us, Petre!
Make room, make room for these bandits, come on.
Any of you guys from Braila?
Where you from?
Any of you from Alba?
When are the Americans coming?
They grabbed me off the street, innocent.
Guilty, innocent, the Canal must be finished!
Look at this one, he called his dog Stalin and they gave him five years.
Anti-Soviet attitude.
And I told them, I got another one, and its name is Hitler.
Didn't have any effect.
Bastard, I'm here because of you!
I'll kill you with my bare hands, you dirty stool pigeon!
Vasile!
Forgive him? This is the lowlife who turned me in!
How can I forgive him?
I wouldn't forgive him in the depth of hell!
Vasile, if you try to cut your cross short, you make it bigger!
Make no mistake, we've been brought here to suffer!
Willy-nilly, we're all brothers here! Brothers in suffering!
What, did the gruel boil over in you?
At attention! Line up!
Whoever started the fight, step forward!
The one who hit first, a step forward.
This the one?
It wasn't him.
Who was it?!
All meals are cut off, for everyone!
Adrian?
I made a chest for you to keep your things.
Thanks a lot.
Here!
Where did you scrounge up a lock though?
Man oh man, Ninel!
The guys in metal shop made it.
We all work together, the guys in the kitchen, the cobblers...
Yeah, but what exactly are you working?
You I can tell, I make furnishings.
Furnishings?
Yes, I make furniture for the officers, nightstands, tables...
When it's raining outside, here, what do you think?
And if it's muddy, you can use it as a stool.
Thank you.
You know something...
Come on outside.
Adrian, it's been so long since I've seen you!
I got a parcel yesterday.
Anuca, my sister!
God, how did she get away?
Hey, hang on!...
Adrian, do you know what that building is behind her?
Opera Garnier!
I can't wait to get out of here!
You miss crossing the Danube?
This time I'm asking her, no more stalling like an idiot!
Ask her!
Adrian!
What? Can you hear that?
What?
Crickets! Crickets, Adrian, the crickets are singing!
Do you know me, counselor?
I don't know who you are, I don't know you!
Only America and England can save us from Moscow's embrace.
This phrase brought me here.
Professor Panait, is that you? Yes, it's me.
Hey, what the hell are you doing, don't feel like working much, do you?
For a lifetime I've been teaching grammar and literature
but I never thought a simple phrase can be that important.
I loved words just like you did, counselor.
What the hell are you doing here?
Back to work, you!
What are you doing?
You, get over here! Get over here, I was looking for you!
Yes, you!
Boss sir, I worked five Sundays straight, please...
What's that? Five Sundays? Get to work, fucker!
Five Sundays, huh? Can't much tell!
Get a move on already!
Come on, boy, get to it, what, you want us to do your quota?
I did my quota in my brigade. Now I'm doing as much as I can!
You couldn't give a crap, but I lose my parcel privileges!
Better under the quota than under the dirt, right?
What did you say?
Are you sabotaging the work, you criminal?!
You think you're bad?
Screw your mother!
What did you say about my mother?!
Hey, stop with the pick!
What did you say about my mother?!
Shoot! Halt!
I'll kill you!
Shoot, dammit!
Halt, or I'll shoot!
Shoot!
Get over here.
Why didn't he shoot?
Back to work, what are you staring at?
Why did you want to kill him?
On the ground!
You'll stay like that until we move out!
Private, one move and you shoot. Understood?
Understood, sir!
One meal every other day.
How much did they give you? Three days.
The first night is the hardest.
Adrian, hang on, Adrian!
Ninel, is that you?
Have you gone out of your mind? You jumped Stanica with a pick?
That's what he gets. A good turn deserves another.
Adrian, I found out how you can cross the Danube.
Go on!
Riding an oxygen tube.
What do you know, like a witch.
Man, I'm serious. It's been done before.
In two minutes you're on the Serbian bank.
They won't even have time to put the spotlight on you.
Hang on, what got into you?
I might get a chance.
I'm making furniture for the commandant and he promised early release.
Ninel, you still believes these guys?
You still believe this guy?
I'm trying.
I've been working night and day for two weeks.
I'm wasted.
Who are you? Gavrila.
I thought there was someone else. That one left.
Are you border people?
How do you know?
I heard last night.
I wouldn't leave the country, I couldn't.
I didn't want to either, but this is how it was meant to be.
Tell a story, anything, to pass the time.
First they arrested our teachers.
They took them straight out of the classroom and took them to the Securitate.
We were shocked.
We thought thieves and murderers end up in jail, not enlightened people.
We took the blackboards off the wall and wrote in chalk on them:
GIVE US OUR TEACHERS BACK,
and they took us straight down to Eminescu Street, to the Securitate.
Are you the guys from Traian High School,
from Turnu Severin? Yes.
When I went to Timisoara to apply to the Polytechnics, they rejected me.
And then I came to Bucharest, I took the exam, I passed
and in two weeks I found myself in an office at the Securitate.
They told me that if I wanted to show my attachment to the working class
I should become their informer.
What a bunch of degenerates!
My sister, my sister had the most beautiful voice in the music school
and didn't get in the Conservatory.
My god, my legs are giving out.
I though hell was supposed to be in the other world.
The screw passed.
What if we tip this box back and forth until it falls down?
It's been done before, by others.
Let's, at least we get a couple of hours decent sleep.
Come on!
See we don't fall forward, push harder to the back!
Oh, that's good!
Come on, get it up!
I cut off your meals, you bandits!
Go, go, line up! Forward, march!
Easy, easy, come on!
Where is Gavrila?
Come on, you're dreaming, boy!
What's with you, you loony? Easy! Hold on to him!
Hi. I got a chill through my bones last night.
Here, I got something for you. Bubba Chis got them in the parcel from home.
God, they're beautiful!
Can I hold them?
Adrian, you know how you can cross the border on dry land?
No.
With a bag of cats on your back.
When the border guards sic the dogs on you, you let go of the bag of cats.
Yeah, I can just see you.
Is the cross ready?
It's wonderful.
It's not ready yet.
It needs a bit more finish.
You think she'd like it?
Adrian, remember when we were in the mountains and it rained...
Anuca started singing "Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore".
Thirty, thirty five, forty...
Hey, who's smoking over there?!
He didn't inhale, sir!
Shut it! What's with you?
At attention!
Today, November 7, we are celebrating the Great Socialist Revolution!
Say after me: Glory to Stalin! Glory to Stalin!
Glory to Stalin! Glory to Stalin!
Louder, bandits!
Glory to Stalin! Glory to Stalin!
At attention! Left! Singing, forward march!
At the Canal we're wiping clean the stain of misdeeds past
We're opening roads with our shovels with renewed drive.
Is it day or night? Day, boy.
Ninel died during the night. They took him to the dead shack.
Ninel died, boy.
Do you have a candle?
He didn't die a natural death!
Cover him the hell back if you don't want a broken head yourself!
Come one! You'll freeze if you don't work! Keep moving over there!
Respects, Father.
Do you have a candle?
Let me show you something.
Did the angels bring him?
In a way.
I think he comes from the civilian shacks.
Did the soldiers in the cordon see him?
I don't think so.
Tiny as he is, he passes unnoticed in the ditches.
He's very bright.
Let's show him to the others.
The child in the labor camp coat.
Leave the tools outside and come see something.
He's beautiful!
What are you dragging your asses around here for?
Line up for the head count.
The Danube-Black Sea Canal, known as the 'Grave of Romanian intellectuals'
was begun in the summer of 1949, and for four years tens of thousands toiled here.
Over 2,000 of them lost their lives.
In July 1953, work stopped and a trial began
in which the civilian management of the Canal was accused of sabotage and sentenced to death.
The true culprits, the leadership of the Communist party and of the Interior Ministry went unpunished.
Screenplay by Oana Maria Cajal and Nicolae Mărgineanu
Inspired by the books "COUSIN ALEXANDRU" by Adrian Oprescu,
"INTRODUCTION TO TORTURE" by Florin Constantin Pavlovici,
as well as various other testimonials of former political detainees.