Radu Jude’s I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians, which world premiere in Karlovy Vary Film Fest’s main competition has stirred controversy. The film’s central character is staging a historical reenactment of a chapter from the Holocaust.
In Romania, a country where many still refuse to discuss its role as a Nazi ally, the subject is still raw, says the writer-director. Jude, who won best director at the Berlin Film Fest for Aferim!, focusing on 19th-century life in Jewish settlements, made “Barbarians” as co-production with France, Bulgaria, Germany and the Czech Republic.
Political pressure not to explore subject
There was some, but less than we expected. What was more unexpected was that a lot of people from the crew or cast were Holocaust deniers in various degrees, but they didn’t tell me directly, I just heard it via word of mouth.