Victor Rebengiuc
Encyclopedia
Victor Rebengiuc (ˈviktor rebenˈd͡ʒjuk; known in full as Victor-George Rebengiuc; born February 10, 1933) is an award-winning Romania
n film and stage actor, also known as a civil society
activist. Since 1957, he has been a member of the Bulandra Theater company, acting in more than 200 roles on that stage alone. Having had his breakthrough performance with Liviu Ciulei
's The Forest of the Hanged, Rebengiuc became a major figure in Romanian cinema
, and became especially known for his 1986 appearance in Stere Gulea
's Moromeţii. He also starred in films by Dan Piţa
(Tănase Scatiu; Dreptate în lanţuri; Faleze de nisip
; The Man of the Day
) and Lucian Pintilie
(De ce trag clopotele, Mitică?; Balanţa; Too Late; Last Stop Paradise; Niki and Flo; Tertium non datur). Rebengiuc was celebrated for his stage performances, appearing in plays directed by, among others, Ciulei, Radu Penciulescu, Andrei Şerban
, Cătălina Buzoianu, Yuri Kordonsky, Gábor Tompa
and Alexandru Dabija. The former husband of actress Anca Vereşti, he is married to Mariana Mihuţ, his Bulandra colleague.
Rebengiuc's life under the communist regime
provided him an anti-communist
perspective, and some of his 1980s films were censored
or banned by the country's officials. In 1989, he took part in the Romanian Revolution
, when he was among the people who stormed into the Romanian Television
building and broadcast the downfall of Nicolae Ceauşescu
and an end to communist rule. Rebengiuc subsequently spoke out against political forces he believes stand for the regime's legacy in modern society, and called for the retrospective condemnation of communism. As a public figure, he has had a brief career in politics, and, since the mid-1990s, endorses non-governmental organization
s.
, Rebengiuc hails from a modest family. After his parents separated when he was three years old, he and his younger brother were raised by their maternal grandparents. He grew up on the city's outskirts, in the low-income quarters, and, as he remembers, his family frequently changed residence in order to afford the rent. They lived in Dristor
, then in Chiajna
, Rahova
, Dealul Spirii
and ultimately northern Bucharest. His father Gheorghe, whom the two sons seldom met, was drafted during World War II
, and died fighting in the land Forces
during the Battle of Stalingrad
; Victor and his brother were subsequently granted a pension
. His mother worked as a clerk, and, just before her retirement, was an employee of the Transport Ministry. Rebengiuc credits his father's genes with his own acting ability. He noted in an interview: "I was pained by my father's absence and, in a way, I always felt like there was something missing, although the bond between us was not strong."
Victor Rebengiuc completed his secondary studies at the Military High School, a school which he is grateful to for having instilled in him a sense of discipline. After a period of collaboration with an amateur troupe located in Vitan
area, Rebengiuc attended the Theater Institute, where he had for his professor actress Aura Buzescu, whom he credits, alongside Clody Bertola, with having inspired his technique. Among the artists who have shaped his work, Rebengiuc also includes the major Soviet
actors Mikhail Zharov
and Ruben Simonov
, whose performances in films he followed closely, and his older Romanian colleague Radu Beligan
. He says: "Back when I started I was acting with the amateurs, I was imitating Beligan. [...] Only when I was undergoing examination at the Institute, I was told, 'hey, you're imitating Beligan!' And then I realized it and try to get rid of this thing."
He graduated in 1956, and, after a six-month stint at the National Theater in Craiova
, returned to Bucharest, settling in the vicinity of Cişmigiu Gardens
and starting work with Bulandra. Rebengiuc was at the time in a relationship with Anca Vereşti, whom he married in 1960, divorcing her five years later.
Rebengiuc's first drama role was as Biff in Arthur Miller
's play Death of a Salesman
, a performance which he regrets, describing its director, Dinu Negreanu, as an untalented person promoted over "political reasons". He also recounts that training for the part brought his first collaboration with Liviu Ciulei
, which he sees as one of the few positive aspects of the production. At around the same time, he began a collaboration with the Teatrul Mic company and director Radu Penciulescu, being, together with Leopoldina Bălănuţă
, George Constantin and Olga Tudorache, one of the first actors to embark on the project. Rebengiuc appeared in several of Penciulescu's experimental
productions: Two for the Seesaw
by William Gibson
, Tango by Sławomir Mrożek and Richard II
by William Shakespeare
. Theater critic Simona Chiţan saw the collaboration as an aspect of the liberalization
following the socialist realist
years: "Penciulescu and Rebengiuc have thus opened [...] a positive period for Romanian theater: the repertoire had been widened, foreign, not just Soviet, plays were being performed, authors modern for the age in question had their plays produced."
. In 1965, Victor Rebengiuc portrayed Apostol Bologa, the central character in Ciulei's film The Forest of the Hanged (adapted from Liviu Rebreanu
's novel of the same name). The film earned Ciulei the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival
, and was received with a standing ovation at the Acapulco Film Festival in Mexico
. Thirty-six years after, Rebengiuc acknowledged that the film was his breakthrough role, and indicated that the film's depiction of ethnic conflicts in Austria-Hungary
made it "absolutely fresh, undated", drawing a parallel between its script and the issues posed by the Yugoslav wars
. According to his recollections, his "angelic face" had initially been judged unsatisfactory by Ciulei, but he managed to convince during casting. He also says that, upon receiving the news of his acceptance, "my legs began trembling and I fell off my chair".
It was on the set that he met and fell in love with Mariana Mihuţ, marrying her in 1965. He fathered a son, Tudor, in 1975, and later recounted that his wife had decided to keep him only because abortion
had been outlawed and the clandestine interventions had become unsanitary (see Abortion in Romania
, Decreţei
). Tudor Rebengiuc is a known architect.
Ever since he became known to the public, Rebengiuc established himself as one of the leading actors of his generation, and won praise for both his technique and natural ability. Philosopher and critic Andrei Pleşu
writes: "Victor Rebengiuc can act magnificently in any role, for he never acts in the role of 'the artist'. The only 'signal' of his specific involvement is, perhaps, the unmistakable crystal-like nature of his speech, the break-through diction, the natural attention toward the clarity of the vocal emission and the message. And this does not mean the usual affectation of the stage, the pedantic, artificial care for sound effects, for the virile imposture of the voice. It means the respect for the text, for the partner in dialog and for the language. Victor Rebengiuc's talent stems, most of all, from a certain cult for the truth [...] and a most rare ability for what is natural." The actor acknowledges having a fear for improvisation
, and recounts having prepared himself intensely for each of his roles. Collaborating with important stage directors such as Ciulei, Cătălina Buzoianu and Andrei Şerban
, Rebengiuc won further notability for his performances in adaptations of Shakespearean plays (Orlando in As You Like It
, Brutus
in Julius Caesar
, the title role in Richard II), as well as in those of Henrik Ibsen
(Bernick in The Pillars of Society
and the main character in Rosmersholm
), Anton Chekhov
(Michail Lvovich Astroff in Uncle Vanya
), Oscar Wilde
(Jack in The Importance of Being Earnest
), Eugene O'Neill
(Long Day's Journey into Night
, A Moon for the Misbegotten
) and Tennessee Williams
(Stanley Kowalski
in A Streetcar Named Desire
). Before Penciulescu left for Sweden
, he and Rebengiuc also worked on the Bulandra version of Rolf Hochhuth
's The Deputy
(known in Romanian
as Vicarul, "The Vicar").
After his debut in cinema, Rebengiuc became a regular presence on screen. His next film was the 1967 Nay-dalgata nosht, by Bulgaria
n director Vulo Radev
, where he starred opposite Nevena Kokanova
as the British
prisoner. Two years later, under the direction of Mihai Iacob
, Rebengiuc starred in The Castle of the Condemned. During the late 1960s and 1970s, he was present in two screen adaption from works by Romania's classical writer Ion Luca Caragiale
(Cadou and O scrisoare pierdută). In 1972 and 1973, he starred two adaption of Manole Marcus' adaptations of scripts by Titus Popovici: Conspiraţia and Departe de Tipperary. Also in 1973, he appeared in Gheorghe Vitanidis
' Dimitrie Cantemir, and, the following year, had one of the main roles in Constantin Vaeni's Zidul. Rebengiuc also had a role in the 1976 Tănase Scatiu (an adaptation of Duiliu Zamfirescu
's Comăneştenilor literary cycle), which was his first collaboration with director Dan Piţa
. Two years later, he appeared in Marcus' Cyanide and the Rain Drop, in Vaeni's Buzduganul cu trei peceţi, and in Piţa's The Prophet, the Gold and the Transylvanians
. In 1979, he was in The Man in the Overcoat, directed by Nicolae Mărgineanu.
During the late 1970s, Rebengiuc was also required to appear in a series of film productions that he admits were of little quality and mainly catered to the ideological tenets newly imposed imposed by the communist regime
and President
Nicolae Ceauşescu
(see July Theses
). As an example, he cites Buzduganul cu trei peceţi, where he portrayed the main character, late 16th century conqueror of Transylvania
Michael the Brave. Of communist films based on Michael's life, Rebengiuc says: "Michael the Brave was Ceauşescu himself [only] with a beard, mustache and a fur hat, and what came out of his mouth were Ceauşescu's speeches." Rebengiuc also states not having "any regret" for not being invited to star in similar films directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu
.
He acknowledges having managed to escape most other forms of endorsement for the communist leader's personality cult, but indicates that, without his permission, several of his performances were considered up for competition in communist-run festivals, and that he was sent a number of diplomas for his various roles. He remembers having refused to take part in Cântarea României festival, a nation-wide quasi-compulsory form of socialist competition
in the field of arts: "I couldn't and I said no, sir! [They said:] 'Now, if you don't go we'll fire you.' So fire me! Well, they didn't."
's 1981 film De ce trag clopotele, Mitică?, where he played Pampon, one of the main roles, while his wife Mihuţ was cast as Pampon's lover Miţa Baston. Pintilie, who planned the production over several years, later recounted that he had meant to cast Toma Caragiu
as Pampon, and that he considered asking him just before Caragiu's death in the 1977 earthquake
. Regarding the new spin on his character, he noted: "It was a Pampon, one of those who waste nights away, play cards, suffer out of love, is always jealous, is always cheated but does not ever realize it. It was a Pampon with a reduced intellect and tired, who only understands things with difficulty." Although set during the Belle Époque
and based on works by Caragiale, the film's bleak atmosphere and irreverent tone alluded to the realities of Communist Romania, which caused it to be censored
and ultimately banned before it could premiere. The cooperation between the actor and director cemented their friendship: Rebengiuc calls Pintile "a great director", and states "I love him like a brother."
In 1983, Rebengiuc appeared in Dan Piţa's Dreptate în lanţuri. The same year, he also collaborated with Piţa on Faleze de nisip
, based on a screenplay by Bujor Nedelcovici
. He starred as the surgeon Theodor Hristea, who, after some of his belongings are stolen, involves himself in the inquiry and directs the interrogation of a seemingly innocent man. The subtle criticism of authorities became a matter of scandal: just days after Faleze de nisip premiered, Nicolae Ceauşescu spoke in front of Romanian Communist Party
officials in Mangalia
, singling it out from breaking with the ideological requirements; as a result, it was banned from cinemas.
In 1986, Rebengiuc was the central figure in Moromeţii, an adaption of Marin Preda
's 1955 book
, directed by Stere Gulea
. His critically acclaimed performance saw Rebengiuc being identified by the public with his character, the patriarchal
and rigid peasant Ilie Moromete. Rebengiuc repeatedly stated having felt unsure about his participation in the film, indicating that he had only impersonated city-dwellers in his previous roles, and that he had limited knowledge of the rural world. He was initially deemed unfit for the part, but managed to convince the director after preparing for it by spending a month in Teleorman County
, where he lived among the peasants. The Moromete performance earned Rebengiuc several prizes, including one handed to him during the San Remo Film Festival in Italy
, and reportedly won Pintilie's praise. He soon after also cast in Nicolae Mărgineanu's The Forest Woman, alongside Manuela Hărăbor and Adrian Pintea
.
In December 1989, Rebengiuc was a participant in the Romanian Revolution
, which managed to topple the Ceauşescu regime and end Communist Party's rule. He joined the crowd of revolutionaries heading into the Romanian Television
building, and voiced anti-communist
messages in front of live cameras. In early 1990, he rallied with the Golaniad
protesters in University Square
, expressing his opposition to the post-communist
ruling party, the national Salvation Front
.
are the stupidest people in the world" is remembered as an ironic reflection of nationalism
being recovered in communist and anti-capitalist
discourse.
The following year, he was in the cast of The Earth's Most Beloved Son, another adaptation from Marin Preda (from the book Cel mai iubit dintre pământeni
). The second of Pintilie's films to star Rebengiuc was the Palme d'Or
-nominated drama Too Late
, which discussed the failings of justice in post-communist Romania
, where he played the role of Elephant Foot. In 1997, he was in Piţa's The Man of the Day
, which was based on a screenplay by Radu F. Alexandru, and, in 1999, starred alongside Hungarian
and Romanian actors in Gábor Tompa
's Chinese Defense. Rebengiuc also starred as Grigore Cafanu in Pintilie's 1998 film Last Stop Paradise (awarded the Special Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival
).
He was also sporadically present on the stage with Bulandra, and stated that he was not interested in starring in works of experimental theater, indicating that it did not suit his taste. Between 1990 and 1996, he was head of the Theater Institute. Speaking in 2005, he said that his ultimate goal was to be "a great actor", elaborating that this implied: "acting in a role and not having anything to reproach myself afterwards. Acting without any specks, being without fault, this is what makes me continue." He made a similar statement in 2008, adding: "I do not act beyond reproach. I have good accomplishments, but there are those sections of a part that I do not cover [...]. When there will no longer be such uncovered sections [...] only then will I say: man, I'm a great actor!"
He was Caliban
in Bulandra's 1991 production of William Shakespeare
's The Tempest
, appearing alongside his fellow actor and revolutionary Ion Caramitru
. He starred in several main roles in classical plays, and, as Nick Bottom
in Ciulei's production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
, received the UNITER
prize. He had several main roles in play by acclaimed stage director Silviu Purcărete: Horazio in Carlo Goldoni
's The Comical Theater, Pelasgus
in Aeschylus
' The Suppliants
, and the tile role in Shakespeare's King Lear
. In 2001, Rebengiuc and his wife appeared together in Anton Chekhov
's Uncle Vanya
, produced for Bulandra by Russia
n director Yuri Kordonsky. The same year, he was Fetisov in Hristo Boytchev's The Colonel Bird and appeared in Samuel Beckett
's Waiting for Godot
(directed by, respectively, Alexandru Dabija and Gábor Tompa).
Rebengiuc also appeared in his first major television production, Tandreţea lăcustelor, adapted by Dan Necşulea from a screenplay by Eugene Pretorian, and aired by TVR 1
in 2003. It depicted the lives of people made rich and powerful by the Revolution, who invest their energies in undermining each other's positions. The same year, he again collaborated with Pintilie, starring opposite Răzvan Vasilescu
and Niki and Flo, impersonating Colonel Niki Ardelean. His character, whom Rebengiuc himself describes as "a modest man, but one who knows his own value", is exasperated by Flo's continuous intrusion into his life, and eventually turns to murder. He describes this part as the most straightforward of his film characters, and indicates that working with screenwriter Cristi Puiu
impressed him. In 2004, he and Puiu collaborated on the short film Cigarettes and Coffee, which received the Golden Bear
at the Berlin International Film Festival
. Rebengiuc, who portrayed one of three characters (The Father), describes feeling "pleased" by the collaboration, and having to work with "one of the best" texts. This performance also earned him prizes at the Transilvania International Film Festival
in Cluj-Napoca
and the Anonimul Film Festival in the Danube Delta
.
's Six Characters in Search of an Author
(2005-2006 season). He was praised by critic Valentin Dumitrescu for a "remarkable performance covering the palette of the tragic-grotesque and de-canonized myth of an insurmountable condition". Rebengiuc starred in another of Pintilie's productions, Tertium non datur (based on a story by Vasile Voiculescu
), playing The General. He collaborated with Kordonsky on three other stage productions: Nikolai Gogol
's Marriage, Ion Luca Caragiale
's Conu' Leonida faţă cu reacţiunea (which was shown only once, during a UNESCO
festivity in Buşteni
) and Mikhail Bulgakov
's Heart of a Dog
, where he was Preobrazhensky. The latter play was notably showcased at the József Katona Theater in Budapest
, Hungary during autumn 2007. Rebengiuc also resumed his work in television productions, appearing in the short series La Urgenţă (aired by TVR 1 in 2006-2007), and in several episodes of Pro TV
's Cu un pas înainte. In 2007, entitled to an age pension provided he retires, the actor stated: "I am valid and I still act... When I shall no longer act, I will place myself at a street corner, perchance someone will recognize me and hand me a pretzel or something."
In early 2008, he was Willy Loman in the Bulandra production of Death of a Salesman
(directed by Felix Alexa). He appeared again alongside Mihuţ, who played Linda, in what was announced as his comeback to the world of theater. During the same months, Rebengiuc, together with Gheorghe Dinică
and Marin Moraru, was awarded the title of Doctor honoris causa by the Theater Institute.
Also in 2007-2008, Rebengiuc was cast in two films: După EA and Silent Wedding
, the debut production of his friend and colleague Horaţiu Mălăele. He also released an audiobook version of Leo Tolstoy
's The Death of Ivan Ilyich
. In February, just before the actor turned 75, journalists Simona Chiţan and Mihaela Michailov published De-a dreptul Victor Rebengiuc ("Victor Rebengiuc for Sure"), a book they dedicated to his acting career, edited by Humanitas
. Rebengiuc, who discussed his Christian faith in interviews, also began applying his actor's craft to religious broadcasting
, with readings of the Psalms
.
His performance as Willy Loman was awarded another UNITER prize in April 2009. The same year, Rebengiuc appeared in Călin Netzer's film Medalia de onoare, and his interpretation as an unwitting war hero was awarded prizes at the Torino Film Festival
and the International Thessaloniki Film Festival. The role earned him another Best Male Actor Award at the Transilvania Film Festival, 2010 edition, where he was a guest of honor. In October 2010, he received the Prometheus Opera Omnia Award for Performance Art, granted by the Anonimul Foundation.
He also embarked on a collaboration with the National Theater Bucharest (TNB), as Joe Keller in Arthur Miller's All My Sons
—under Caramitru's direction. Theater critic Silvia Dumitrache, who called the show "lively and dynamic, tense and troubling", highlights the fact that Rebengiuc created a "rather positive" portrayal of a negative role, serving to cast "an even more tragic light over the play." Rebengiuc was also the lead in another TNB production, Legenda Marelui Inchizitor ("The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor"), adapted by Radu Penciulescu from Fyodor Dostoevsky
's eponymous parable
. Critic Dan Boicea, who noted that the production relied on Rebengiuc's monologues, also argued: "Rebengiuc does not in any way exaggerate, he is passionate through his gentleness, he is firm in the manner through which he spares his energy [...]. He does not erupt at the moment of climax
, although he could have well fallen into this sin."
, Victor Rebengiuc said: "I have but one certainty: communist society is bad. After the unfortunate experience of several tens of years, I would shove my hand into the furnace over this issue." Despite being confronted with recruitment campaigns before 1989, Rebengiuc never joined the Romanian Communist Party
and felt that his role in Heart of a Dog
was "representative" of himself, owing to the anti-communist undertones in Mikhail Bulgakov
's play.
Rebengiuc first voiced his political message to the public during the Romanian Revolution
, when he was present in the Romanian Television
building. In an iconic moment, he held up a roll of toilet paper
to the camera, urging viewers and members of the television staff who had promoted Ceauşescu's personality cult to clean up after themselves. In 2008, Rebengiuc recalled: "I had been wanting to do this gesture for a long time, and I think it was the most appropriate of moments. I know I took a lot of people by surprise. I told them that people who ate shit and who filled up our lives and ears with Ceauşescu this, Ceauşescu that, ought to disappear. That paper was supposed to wipe out some traces. I am still fighting windmills." Elsewhere, he spoke of his motivations: "All those who just an hour or two before were still eulogizing Ceauşescu were [still] on television. And, just like that, they were on television, making themselves look innocent, pure. [...] Me, until December 22, 1989 [that is, the day Ceauşescu fled], I was wondering: gee, what will all these shit-eaters be doing if the regime is changed? Will they be ashamed? Will they run to hide in dark corners? And then I see them on television..." Rebengiuc, who credits his son Tudor with having urged him to walk into the Television building, also remembers reciting Doina, a nationalist
poem by Mihai Eminescu
, changing stress from its condemnation of foreigners to read like an attack on people associated with the regime.
On May 1, 1990, at the height of the Golaniad
events, Rebengiuc read a Protest of the Romanian Intellectuals, expressing solidarity with the students gathered in University Square
in opposition to the National Salvation Front
. It was signed by 27 cultural personalities, among them civil society militants (Gabriel Andreescu
, Doina Cornea
, Radu Filipescu
), journalists (Cornel Nistorescu
, Octavian Paler
), essayists (Gabriela Adameşteanu
, Ana Blandiana
, Petru Creţia, Ştefan Augustin Doinaş
, Ion Bogdan Lefter, Romulus Rusan), visual artists (Horia Bernea
, Sorin Dumitrescu, Mihai Stănescu), actors (Irina Petrescu, Florin Zamfirescu and Rebengiuc's wife Mariana Mihuţ), musicians (Corneliu Cezar, Teodor Grigoriu, Johnny Răducanu
), scientist Edmond Nicolau and filmmaker Lucian Pintilie
. The document offered praise to the Timişoara Proclamation
, through which both the 1989 revolutionaries and the Golaniad were asking for the application of lustration
in Romanian politics
, and stressed the continuity between the two forms of street protest, while objecting to the Salvation Front's allegations that the protesters were jeopardizing social consensus: "[The demonstrators] express the Revolution's spirit, the sacrifice of those who have stood for the Romanian people's horror for any form of totalitarianism
. The Government's decision to refuse dialogue with the demonstrators, with those who have signed the Proclamation, still divides the population, still alienates one of the most active and responsible sections of the nation. [...] We too wish for stability, but we wish for a moral stability, one based not on personal or party interests, but on the interests of the country and on the sacred aspirations of the December Revolution."
After 1990, Rebengiuc remained a critic of the Salvation Front's successor, the Social Democratic Party
. He felt that "The party in power immediately after the Revolution only changed its name and high-ranking leadership, that is all. People were still tied to the communist party's mentality." During the early 1990s, Rebengiuc sympathized with the opposition National Liberals
, and, without formalizing his affiliation, ran in elections for the Senate
in the 1990 suffrage. Rebengiuc later reflected: "Fortunately, I was not elected." The actor also publicized his monarchism
: in April 1992, he was one of the celebrities welcoming Michael I
, the deposed King of Romania
, during his return visit to the post-communist country. In 2003-2004, Rebengiuc was affiliated with the minor party Union for Romanian Reconstruction
(URR). He later stated: "It was a political proposal I believed in. URR could have been a change of the political class." He indicated that his reasons for parting with the group was its failure to gain popularity and reach the number of votes necessary to enter Parliament
during the 2004 elections
.
Asociaţia Revoluţionarilor fără Privilegii (Association of Non-Privileged Revolutionaries), alongside Ion Caramitru
, Dan Pavel
, Radu Filipescu and others. In reference to the goal behind this group, Filipescu states: "The Association was established as a reaction to the very active organizations of revolutionaries, which were mostly active in demanding material gains. Ultimately, the situation arose where joining an association of revolutionaries had the connotation of pursuing material gains, privileges." He is also a member of the Group for Social Dialog (GDS), a platform for reform-minded intellectuals. As of 2005, he was, with fellow revolutionary Mircea Diaconu, one of the two actors among its 48 members.
He chose to retire from Romanian politics, stating in 2008: "I see no sense in being involved, since I cannot go all the way in opting for any person. I do not believe in any of the people I could elect at this moment, and I therefore prefer to stand aside." Confessing that he cannot bring himself to even read newspapers, he declares himself "disgusted" with the political class. Despite his withdrawal, he signed his name to a set of initiatives which presume a political role. In March 2006, the actor voiced a public appeal signed by 30 non-governmental organizations and over 230 public figures, through which he asked President
Traian Băsescu
to effect the condemnation of the communist regime in the spirit of the Timişoara Proclamation.
Partly as a result of this appeal, the head of state instituted the Presidential Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania
, which was headed by historian Vladimir Tismăneanu
, and a report which the president read in Parliament. During the subsequent controversy, criticism of Băsescu and the report was notably voiced by the opposition groups: the Social Democrats, the Conservative Party
and the Greater Romania Party
. In February 2007, as parliamentary forces voted in favor of an impeachment referendum
against Băsescu, Rebengiuc joined Tismăneanu and 48 other intellectuals in signing an open letter
condemning the move. They argued that such a reaction had been made possible by "the concerted attacks of those who felt shaken their business, their impunity, the possibility of perpetuating the post-communist oligarchic
state." Warning that, together with the break-up of the Justice and Truth Alliance, this kind of reaction had fermented "a political crisis", they also supported Băsescu's stated goals of stamping out corruption
and granting the public opening the archives of the communist secret police, the Securitate
. Other signatories of the letter included Gabriel Liiceanu
, Sorin Ilieşiu, Mircea Mihăieş, Dan C. Mihăilescu, Mircea Cărtărescu
, Magda Cârneci, Horia-Roman Patapievici
, Şerban Rădulescu-Zoner, Andrei Oişteanu
, Ruxandra Cesereanu
, Dan Perjovschi
, Alexandru Zub
, Virgil Nemoianu
, Adriana Babeţi, Livius Ciocârlie, Andrei Cornea, Sabina Fati, Florin Gabrea, Andrei Pippidi, Dan Tapalagă, Sever Voinescu
, Florin Ţurcanu, Hannelore Baier and Traian Ungureanu.
His call to uncover the secrets of Romania's communist past also made him look up data kept on him by the Securitate and placed at his disposal by the CNSAS, a state agency which manages Securitate archives. He believes that certain information is still missing from his file, indicating that his tendency to speak his mind is likely to have caused the authorities to keep him under surveillance. He also stresses that he long suspected people in his pre-1989 entourage of having informed on him to the Securitate, and recounts having received hate mail
soon after the Revolution, especially after having expressed criticism for the Salvation Front.
In January 2007, Rebengiuc and Perjovschi also spoke out on the issue of cultural policies, protesting against the state-run Center for Cinema Production: together with actor Florin Piersic Jr, filmmaker Radu Afrim, and critics Mihai Chirilov
, Alex Leo Şerban, Marius Chivu and Daniel Cristea-Enache, they endorsed an online
petition which condemned the institution for its decision to grant funding to the projects of controversial director Sergiu Nicolaescu
, and for failing to finance young and internationally acclaimed directors such as Cristi Puiu
and Thomas Ciulei. Three years later, during the Transilvania International Film Festival
, Rebengiuc voiced a public protest of cinema professionals against Nicolaescu's law project, which aimed to modify the criteria in use for the public financing of films. Their protest, codified in the Cluj Proclamation, earned support from visiting German
director Wim Wenders
.
Rebengiuc was also the spokesman of a 2009 campaign launched by Realitatea TV
and titled Noi vrem respect ("We Demand Respect"). The initiative announced as its goal the change of morals and attitudes among the Romanians: "Cheekiness will not turn one into God, money will not make us masters, ignorance does not make us blessed." In a promotional video headlining the campaign, Rebengiuc himself stated that he felt solidarity with the Realitatea vision, being motivated in this by what he saw as a general decrease in standards within Romanian society. His participation in the project was the topic of criticism: commentators argued that the station was using the slogan in the political battle leading up to the 2009 election
, and thus reflected its patron Sorin Ovidiu Vântu
's option for the anti-Băsescu parties and trade unions. Journalist and academic Bogdan Iancu, who entered a polemic with Realitatea over the issue of covert political support, suggested that there was a contrast between Rebengiuc's stance during the Revolution (the toilet paper episode) and his lending credibility to what "reeks of manipulation intelligently packaged in the suave discourse of social responsibility". In contrast, writer Cezar Paul-Bădescu found the campaign "laudable", describing it the start of a "moral revolution" and believing Rebengiuc's role to have been "as usual, extraordinary", but noting that Realitatea had itself failed at maintaining the journalistic standard it implicitly advertised.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n film and stage actor, also known as a civil society
Civil society
Civil society is composed of the totality of many voluntary social relationships, civic and social organizations, and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society, as distinct from the force-backed structures of a state , the commercial institutions of the market, and private criminal...
activist. Since 1957, he has been a member of the Bulandra Theater company, acting in more than 200 roles on that stage alone. Having had his breakthrough performance with Liviu Ciulei
Liviu Ciulei
Liviu Ciulei was a Romanian theater and film director, film writer, actor, architect, educator, costume and set designer. During a career spanning over 50 years, he was described by Newsweek as "one of the boldest and most challenging figures on the international scene".-Biography:Born in...
's The Forest of the Hanged, Rebengiuc became a major figure in Romanian cinema
Cinema of Romania
The cinema of Romania is the art of motion-picture making within the nation of Romania or by Romanian filmmakers abroad.As upon much of the world's early cinema, the ravages of time have left their mark upon Romanian film prints. Tens of titles have been destroyed or lost for good...
, and became especially known for his 1986 appearance in Stere Gulea
Stere Gulea
Stere Gulea is a Romanian film director and screenwriter.-Filmography:*Weekend cu mama *Stare de fapt , also screenplay*Vulpe - Vânǎtor...
's Moromeţii. He also starred in films by Dan Piţa
Dan Pita
-Career:Piţa has directed several award-winning films since 1970, including the 1985 hit Pas în doi, which won an Honourable Mention at the 36th Berlin International Film Festival...
(Tănase Scatiu; Dreptate în lanţuri; Faleze de nisip
Faleze de nisip
Sand Cliffs is a Romanian motion picture drama released in 1983 and banned four days after its première by the regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu. The film, adapted from the novel Zile de Nisip by Bujor Nedelcovici, was directed by Dan Piţa, with dialogue and script by Bujor Nedelcovici and Dan Piţa,...
; The Man of the Day
The Man of the Day
The Man of the Day was a 1997 Romanian film directed by Dan Piţa....
) and Lucian Pintilie
Lucian Pintilie
-Filmography:* Duminică la ora şase * Reconstituirea * Salonul numărul 6 * De ce trag clopotele, Mitică? - see also the "Portrayals and tributes" section at Mitică* Balanţa * O vară de neuitat * Prea târziu...
(De ce trag clopotele, Mitică?; Balanţa; Too Late; Last Stop Paradise; Niki and Flo; Tertium non datur). Rebengiuc was celebrated for his stage performances, appearing in plays directed by, among others, Ciulei, Radu Penciulescu, Andrei Şerban
Andrei Serban
Andrei Șerban is a Romanian-born American theater director. A major name in twentieth-century theater, he is renowned for his innovative and iconoclastic interpretations and stagings...
, Cătălina Buzoianu, Yuri Kordonsky, Gábor Tompa
Gábor Tompa
Gábor Tompa is a Romanian theater director and teacher, born in Târgu Mureş on August 8, 1957. Since 2007 he has been Head of Directing at the Theatre and Dance Department of the University of California, San Diego...
and Alexandru Dabija. The former husband of actress Anca Vereşti, he is married to Mariana Mihuţ, his Bulandra colleague.
Rebengiuc's life under the communist regime
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
provided him an anti-communist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
perspective, and some of his 1980s films were censored
Censorship in Communist Romania
Censorship in Communist Romania was widespread and virtually every published document, be it a newspaper article or a book, had to pass the censor's approval...
or banned by the country's officials. In 1989, he took part in the Romanian Revolution
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
, when he was among the people who stormed into the Romanian Television
Romanian television
Romanian television may refer to:* Communications media in Romania* Televiziunea Română, TVR, the national television network* List of Romanian language television channels...
building and broadcast the downfall of Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
and an end to communist rule. Rebengiuc subsequently spoke out against political forces he believes stand for the regime's legacy in modern society, and called for the retrospective condemnation of communism. As a public figure, he has had a brief career in politics, and, since the mid-1990s, endorses non-governmental organization
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
s.
Early life
A native of BucharestBucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, Rebengiuc hails from a modest family. After his parents separated when he was three years old, he and his younger brother were raised by their maternal grandparents. He grew up on the city's outskirts, in the low-income quarters, and, as he remembers, his family frequently changed residence in order to afford the rent. They lived in Dristor
Dristor
Dristor is a neighborhood located in the southeastern part of Bucharest. Nearby districts include Dudeşti, Vitan, Văcăreşti and Titan. The Dristor metro station is a major node of Bucharest Metro's network....
, then in Chiajna
Chiajna
Chiajna is a commune in the south-west of Ilfov County, Romania, immediately west of the capital, Bucharest. It is composed of three villages: Chiajna, Dudu and Roşu.-Etymology:Chiajna is a Romanian female name, being a feminine version of "cneaz" ....
, Rahova
Rahova
Rahova is a neighbourhood of southwest Bucharest, Romania, situated in Sector 5, west of Dâmboviţa River. It is named after the Bulgarian town Rahovo , site of a battle in the Romanian War of Independence....
, Dealul Spirii
Dealul Spirii
Dealul Spirii is a hill in Bucharest, Romania, upon which, currently, the Palace of the Parliament is located....
and ultimately northern Bucharest. His father Gheorghe, whom the two sons seldom met, was drafted during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and died fighting in the land Forces
Romanian Land Forces
The Romanian Land Forces is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the force.The Romanian Land Forces were founded on...
during the Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
; Victor and his brother were subsequently granted a pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
. His mother worked as a clerk, and, just before her retirement, was an employee of the Transport Ministry. Rebengiuc credits his father's genes with his own acting ability. He noted in an interview: "I was pained by my father's absence and, in a way, I always felt like there was something missing, although the bond between us was not strong."
Victor Rebengiuc completed his secondary studies at the Military High School, a school which he is grateful to for having instilled in him a sense of discipline. After a period of collaboration with an amateur troupe located in Vitan
Vitan
Vitan is a neighborhood in southeastern Bucharest, Romania, along the Dâmboviţa River, located between Titan, Dristor, Centrul Civic, Olteniţei and Berceni....
area, Rebengiuc attended the Theater Institute, where he had for his professor actress Aura Buzescu, whom he credits, alongside Clody Bertola, with having inspired his technique. Among the artists who have shaped his work, Rebengiuc also includes the major Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
actors Mikhail Zharov
Mikhail Zharov
Mikhail Ivanovich Zharov was a Russian actor.He studied under the prominent director Theodore Komisarjevsky and debuted in Yakov Protazanov's Aelita...
and Ruben Simonov
Ruben Simonov
Ruben Simonov was a Soviet artist and director, Peoples Artist of the USSR, Professor. Awarded by the State Prize of the USSR title ....
, whose performances in films he followed closely, and his older Romanian colleague Radu Beligan
Radu Beligan
Radu Beligan is a Romanian actor who has appeared in theatre, film, television, and radio.He played many celebrated roles by major Romanian playwrights and universally known roles by Shakespeare, Goldoni,...
. He says: "Back when I started I was acting with the amateurs, I was imitating Beligan. [...] Only when I was undergoing examination at the Institute, I was told, 'hey, you're imitating Beligan!' And then I realized it and try to get rid of this thing."
He graduated in 1956, and, after a six-month stint at the National Theater in Craiova
Craiova
Craiova , Romania's 6th largest city and capital of Dolj County, is situated near the east bank of the river Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximately equal distances from the Southern Carpathians and the River Danube . Craiova is the chief...
, returned to Bucharest, settling in the vicinity of Cişmigiu Gardens
Cismigiu Gardens
The Cişmigiu Gardens are a public park near the center of Bucharest, Romania, spanning areas on all sides of an artificial lake. The gardens' creation was an important moment in the history of Bucharest. They form the oldest and, at 17 hectares, the largest park in city's central area...
and starting work with Bulandra. Rebengiuc was at the time in a relationship with Anca Vereşti, whom he married in 1960, divorcing her five years later.
Rebengiuc's first drama role was as Biff in Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
's play Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was the recipient of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. Premiered at the Morosco Theatre in February 1949, the original production ran for a total of 742 performances.-Plot :Willy Loman...
, a performance which he regrets, describing its director, Dinu Negreanu, as an untalented person promoted over "political reasons". He also recounts that training for the part brought his first collaboration with Liviu Ciulei
Liviu Ciulei
Liviu Ciulei was a Romanian theater and film director, film writer, actor, architect, educator, costume and set designer. During a career spanning over 50 years, he was described by Newsweek as "one of the boldest and most challenging figures on the international scene".-Biography:Born in...
, which he sees as one of the few positive aspects of the production. At around the same time, he began a collaboration with the Teatrul Mic company and director Radu Penciulescu, being, together with Leopoldina Bălănuţă
Leopoldina Balanuta
-Biography:She was a 1958 graduate of the Bucharest Institute of Theater and Cinematographic Art .Her father was an Orthodox priest in Focşani. She was married to actor Mitică Popescu....
, George Constantin and Olga Tudorache, one of the first actors to embark on the project. Rebengiuc appeared in several of Penciulescu's experimental
Experimental theatre
Experimental theatre is a general term for various movements in Western theatre that began in the late 19th century as a retraction against the dominant vent governing the writing and production of dramatical menstrophy, and age in particular. The term has shifted over time as the mainstream...
productions: Two for the Seesaw
Two for the Seesaw
Two for the Seesaw is a 1962 romance-drama film directed by Robert Wise and starring Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine. It was adapted from the Broadway play written by William Gibson.-Plot:...
by William Gibson
William Gibson (playwright)
William Gibson was an American playwright and novelist. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1938.He was of Irish, French, German, Dutch and Russian ancestry...
, Tango by Sławomir Mrożek and Richard II
Richard II (play)
King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
. Theater critic Simona Chiţan saw the collaboration as an aspect of the liberalization
Liberalization
In general, liberalization refers to a relaxation of previous government restrictions, usually in areas of social or economic policy. In some contexts this process or concept is often, but not always, referred to as deregulation...
following the socialist realist
Socialist realism in Romania
After World War II, socialist realism on the Soviet model was imposed on the USSR's new satellites, including Romania. This was accompanied by a series of organisational and repressive moves, for instance the incarceration of numerous poets...
years: "Penciulescu and Rebengiuc have thus opened [...] a positive period for Romanian theater: the repertoire had been widened, foreign, not just Soviet, plays were being performed, authors modern for the age in question had their plays produced."
First major roles
Rebengiuc debuted in cinema with the 1956 Mîndrie, and went on to minor roles in several films, including the 1960 Furtuna, adapted by Andrei Blaier from one of Titus Popovici's writings, Iulian Mihu's Poveste sentimentală (from a work by Horia Lovinescu) and Darclée, the biographical story of opera singer Hariclea DarcléeHariclea Darclée
Hariclea Darclée was a celebrated Romanian operatic soprano. She possessed an agile, powerful, and beautiful voice that was wielded with a fine technique. An extremely beautiful woman, Darclée's stage presence was as elegant and refined as her singing...
. In 1965, Victor Rebengiuc portrayed Apostol Bologa, the central character in Ciulei's film The Forest of the Hanged (adapted from Liviu Rebreanu
Liviu Rebreanu
Liviu Rebreanu was a Romanian novelist, playwright, short story writer, and journalist.- Life :Born in Târlișua , Transylvania, then part of Austria-Hungary, he was the second of thirteen children born to Vasile Rebreanu, a schoolteacher, and Ludovica Diuganu, descendants of peasants...
's novel of the same name). The film earned Ciulei the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, and was received with a standing ovation at the Acapulco Film Festival in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Thirty-six years after, Rebengiuc acknowledged that the film was his breakthrough role, and indicated that the film's depiction of ethnic conflicts in Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
made it "absolutely fresh, undated", drawing a parallel between its script and the issues posed by the Yugoslav wars
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
. According to his recollections, his "angelic face" had initially been judged unsatisfactory by Ciulei, but he managed to convince during casting. He also says that, upon receiving the news of his acceptance, "my legs began trembling and I fell off my chair".
It was on the set that he met and fell in love with Mariana Mihuţ, marrying her in 1965. He fathered a son, Tudor, in 1975, and later recounted that his wife had decided to keep him only because abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
had been outlawed and the clandestine interventions had become unsanitary (see Abortion in Romania
Abortion in Romania
Abortion in Romania is legal during the first 14 weeks of the pregnancy. Abortions during later stages of pregnancy are legal only when the woman's life is at risk...
, Decreţei
Decreţei
Decreţei are Romanian children born in the 1960s and 70s, shortly after the communist regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu issued Decree 770...
). Tudor Rebengiuc is a known architect.
Ever since he became known to the public, Rebengiuc established himself as one of the leading actors of his generation, and won praise for both his technique and natural ability. Philosopher and critic Andrei Pleşu
Andrei Plesu
Andrei Gabriel Pleşu is a Romanian philosopher, essayist, journalist, literary and art critic, and politician.- Biography :Born in Bucharest, the son of Radu Pleşu, a surgeon and Zoe Pleşu , he spent much of his early youth in the country side...
writes: "Victor Rebengiuc can act magnificently in any role, for he never acts in the role of 'the artist'. The only 'signal' of his specific involvement is, perhaps, the unmistakable crystal-like nature of his speech, the break-through diction, the natural attention toward the clarity of the vocal emission and the message. And this does not mean the usual affectation of the stage, the pedantic, artificial care for sound effects, for the virile imposture of the voice. It means the respect for the text, for the partner in dialog and for the language. Victor Rebengiuc's talent stems, most of all, from a certain cult for the truth [...] and a most rare ability for what is natural." The actor acknowledges having a fear for improvisation
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
, and recounts having prepared himself intensely for each of his roles. Collaborating with important stage directors such as Ciulei, Cătălina Buzoianu and Andrei Şerban
Andrei Serban
Andrei Șerban is a Romanian-born American theater director. A major name in twentieth-century theater, he is renowned for his innovative and iconoclastic interpretations and stagings...
, Rebengiuc won further notability for his performances in adaptations of Shakespearean plays (Orlando in As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
, Brutus
Marcus Junius Brutus
Marcus Junius Brutus , often referred to as Brutus, was a politician of the late Roman Republic. After being adopted by his uncle he used the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, but eventually returned to using his original name...
in Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar (play)
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...
, the title role in Richard II), as well as in those of Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
(Bernick in The Pillars of Society
The Pillars of Society
The Pillars of Society is an 1877 play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen....
and the main character in Rosmersholm
Rosmersholm
Rosmersholm is a play written in 1886 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. In the estimation of many critics the piece is Ibsen's masterwork, only equalled by The Wild Duck of 1884...
), Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
(Michail Lvovich Astroff in Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski....
), Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
(Jack in The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
), Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
(Long Day's Journey into Night
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Long Day's Journey Into Night is a 1956 drama in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play is widely considered to be his masterwork...
, A Moon for the Misbegotten
A Moon for the Misbegotten
A Moon for the Misbegotten is a play by Eugene O'Neill. The play can be thought of as a sequel to the autobiographical Long Day's Journey into Night...
) and Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
(Stanley Kowalski
Stanley Kowalski
Stanley Kowalski is a fictional character in Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire.-In the play:Stanley lives in the working class Faubourg Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans with his wife, Stella , and is employed as a factory parts salesman. He was an Army engineer in WWII, having...
in A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire (play)
A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was...
). Before Penciulescu left for Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, he and Rebengiuc also worked on the Bulandra version of Rolf Hochhuth
Rolf Hochhuth
Rolf Hochhuth is a German author and playwright. He is best known for his 1963 drama The Deputy and remains a controversial figure for his plays and other public comments, such as his insinuation of Pope Pius XII's sympathies for Hitler's extermination of the Jews in the 1963 play The Deputy and...
's The Deputy
The Deputy
The Deputy, a Christian tragedy , also known as The Representative, is a controversial 1963 play by Rolf Hochhuth which indicts Pope Pius XII for his failure to take action or speak out against The Holocaust. It has been translated into more than twenty languages...
(known in Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
as Vicarul, "The Vicar").
After his debut in cinema, Rebengiuc became a regular presence on screen. His next film was the 1967 Nay-dalgata nosht, by Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n director Vulo Radev
Vulo Radev
Vulo Radev was a Bulgarian film director.Radev was born in Lesidren. His famous works include Osadeni Dushi , Kradetzat Na Praskovi , and Chernite Angeli ....
, where he starred opposite Nevena Kokanova
Nevena Kokanova
Nevena Kokanova was a Bulgarian film actress. She was known as the "first lady of Bulgarian cinema." Her mother was from a well-known Austrian aristocratic family, and her father was a political prisoner....
as the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
prisoner. Two years later, under the direction of Mihai Iacob
Mihai Iacob
Mihai Iacob was a Romanian film director and screenwriter. He directed twelve films between 1955 and 1972.-Filmography:* Blanca * Dincolo de brazi * Setea * Darclee...
, Rebengiuc starred in The Castle of the Condemned. During the late 1960s and 1970s, he was present in two screen adaption from works by Romania's classical writer Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale was a Wallachian-born Romanian playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager, political commentator and journalist...
(Cadou and O scrisoare pierdută). In 1972 and 1973, he starred two adaption of Manole Marcus' adaptations of scripts by Titus Popovici: Conspiraţia and Departe de Tipperary. Also in 1973, he appeared in Gheorghe Vitanidis
Gheorghe Vitanidis
Gheorghe Vitanidis was a Romanian film director. He directed 19 films between 1958 and 1987.-External links:...
' Dimitrie Cantemir, and, the following year, had one of the main roles in Constantin Vaeni's Zidul. Rebengiuc also had a role in the 1976 Tănase Scatiu (an adaptation of Duiliu Zamfirescu
Duiliu Zamfirescu
Duiliu Zamfirescu was a Romanian novelist, poet, short story writer, lawyer, nationalist politician, journalist, diplomat and memoirist. In 1909, he was elected a member of the Romanian Academy, and, for a while in 1920, he was Foreign Minister of Romania...
's Comăneştenilor literary cycle), which was his first collaboration with director Dan Piţa
Dan Pita
-Career:Piţa has directed several award-winning films since 1970, including the 1985 hit Pas în doi, which won an Honourable Mention at the 36th Berlin International Film Festival...
. Two years later, he appeared in Marcus' Cyanide and the Rain Drop, in Vaeni's Buzduganul cu trei peceţi, and in Piţa's The Prophet, the Gold and the Transylvanians
The Prophet, the Gold and the Transylvanians
The Prophet, the Gold and the Transylvanians is a 1978 Romanian film directed by Romanian director Dan Piţa. It is the first in a Red Western trilogy that also comprises The Artiste, the Dollars and the Transylvanians and The Oil, the Baby and the Transylvanians.It is spoken in English and...
. In 1979, he was in The Man in the Overcoat, directed by Nicolae Mărgineanu.
During the late 1970s, Rebengiuc was also required to appear in a series of film productions that he admits were of little quality and mainly catered to the ideological tenets newly imposed imposed by the communist regime
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
and President
President of Romania
The President of Romania is the head of state of Romania. The President is directly elected by a two-round system for a five-year term . An individual may serve two terms...
Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
(see July Theses
July Theses
The July Theses is a name commonly given to a speech delivered by Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu on July 6, 1971, before the Executive Committee of the Romanian Communist Party...
). As an example, he cites Buzduganul cu trei peceţi, where he portrayed the main character, late 16th century conqueror of Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
Michael the Brave. Of communist films based on Michael's life, Rebengiuc says: "Michael the Brave was Ceauşescu himself [only] with a beard, mustache and a fur hat, and what came out of his mouth were Ceauşescu's speeches." Rebengiuc also states not having "any regret" for not being invited to star in similar films directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu
Sergiu Nicolaescu
Sergiu Florin Nicolaescu is a Romanian film director, actor and politician. He is best known for his historical films, such as Mihai Viteazul , Dacii , Razboiul Independenţei , as well as for his series of...
.
He acknowledges having managed to escape most other forms of endorsement for the communist leader's personality cult, but indicates that, without his permission, several of his performances were considered up for competition in communist-run festivals, and that he was sent a number of diplomas for his various roles. He remembers having refused to take part in Cântarea României festival, a nation-wide quasi-compulsory form of socialist competition
Socialist competition
Socialist competition or socialist emulation was a form of competition between state enterprises and between individuals practiced in the Soviet Union and in other Eastern bloc states.- Competition vs...
in the field of arts: "I couldn't and I said no, sir! [They said:] 'Now, if you don't go we'll fire you.' So fire me! Well, they didn't."
1980s and Revolution
During the 1980s, he had several roles in Romanian productions, beginning with Lucian PintilieLucian Pintilie
-Filmography:* Duminică la ora şase * Reconstituirea * Salonul numărul 6 * De ce trag clopotele, Mitică? - see also the "Portrayals and tributes" section at Mitică* Balanţa * O vară de neuitat * Prea târziu...
's 1981 film De ce trag clopotele, Mitică?, where he played Pampon, one of the main roles, while his wife Mihuţ was cast as Pampon's lover Miţa Baston. Pintilie, who planned the production over several years, later recounted that he had meant to cast Toma Caragiu
Toma Caragiu
Toma Caragiu was a prolific Romanian theatre, television and film actor.He was born in an Aromanian family, in the Greek village of Aetomilitsa, in the region of Epirus on August the 21st 1925. Toma Caragiu was one of the best Romanian actors, with a rich activity in both film and theatre...
as Pampon, and that he considered asking him just before Caragiu's death in the 1977 earthquake
1977 Bucharest Earthquake
The 1977 Vrancea Earthquake occurred on Friday, 4 March 1977, 21:20 local time and was felt throughout the Balkans. It had a magnitude of 7.2 with an epicenter in Vrancea at a depth of ....
. Regarding the new spin on his character, he noted: "It was a Pampon, one of those who waste nights away, play cards, suffer out of love, is always jealous, is always cheated but does not ever realize it. It was a Pampon with a reduced intellect and tired, who only understands things with difficulty." Although set during the Belle Époque
Belle Époque
The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. Occurring during the era of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, it was a period characterised by optimism and new technological and medical...
and based on works by Caragiale, the film's bleak atmosphere and irreverent tone alluded to the realities of Communist Romania, which caused it to be censored
Censorship in Communist Romania
Censorship in Communist Romania was widespread and virtually every published document, be it a newspaper article or a book, had to pass the censor's approval...
and ultimately banned before it could premiere. The cooperation between the actor and director cemented their friendship: Rebengiuc calls Pintile "a great director", and states "I love him like a brother."
In 1983, Rebengiuc appeared in Dan Piţa's Dreptate în lanţuri. The same year, he also collaborated with Piţa on Faleze de nisip
Faleze de nisip
Sand Cliffs is a Romanian motion picture drama released in 1983 and banned four days after its première by the regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu. The film, adapted from the novel Zile de Nisip by Bujor Nedelcovici, was directed by Dan Piţa, with dialogue and script by Bujor Nedelcovici and Dan Piţa,...
, based on a screenplay by Bujor Nedelcovici
Bujor Nedelcovici
Bujor Nedelcovici is a novelist, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, journalist and photographer who lives in Paris, France....
. He starred as the surgeon Theodor Hristea, who, after some of his belongings are stolen, involves himself in the inquiry and directs the interrogation of a seemingly innocent man. The subtle criticism of authorities became a matter of scandal: just days after Faleze de nisip premiered, Nicolae Ceauşescu spoke in front of Romanian Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
officials in Mangalia
Mangalia
Mangalia , is a city and a port on the coast of the Black Sea in the south-east of Constanţa County, Romania.The municipality of Mangalia also administers several summer time seaside resorts: Cap Aurora, Jupiter, Neptun, Olimp, Saturn, Venus.-History:...
, singling it out from breaking with the ideological requirements; as a result, it was banned from cinemas.
In 1986, Rebengiuc was the central figure in Moromeţii, an adaption of Marin Preda
Marin Preda
Marin Preda was a Romanian novelist, one of the best-known post-WWII Romanian writers.Preda was born in Teleorman county, in a village called Siliştea-Gumeşti, into a family of peasants. He first studied at school in his home village, then schools in Abrud and Cristur-Odorhei...
's 1955 book
Morometii
Moromeţii is a novel by the Romanian author Marin Preda, one which consecrated him as the most important novelist in the post-World War II Romanian literature....
, directed by Stere Gulea
Stere Gulea
Stere Gulea is a Romanian film director and screenwriter.-Filmography:*Weekend cu mama *Stare de fapt , also screenplay*Vulpe - Vânǎtor...
. His critically acclaimed performance saw Rebengiuc being identified by the public with his character, the patriarchal
Patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination...
and rigid peasant Ilie Moromete. Rebengiuc repeatedly stated having felt unsure about his participation in the film, indicating that he had only impersonated city-dwellers in his previous roles, and that he had limited knowledge of the rural world. He was initially deemed unfit for the part, but managed to convince the director after preparing for it by spending a month in Teleorman County
Teleorman County
Teleorman is a county of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, with its capital city at Alexandria.The name Teleorman is of Cumanic origin. It literally means crazy forest and, by extension, "thick and shadowy forest" in the Cuman language...
, where he lived among the peasants. The Moromete performance earned Rebengiuc several prizes, including one handed to him during the San Remo Film Festival in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and reportedly won Pintilie's praise. He soon after also cast in Nicolae Mărgineanu's The Forest Woman, alongside Manuela Hărăbor and Adrian Pintea
Adrian Pintea
Adrian Virgil Pintea was a Romanian actor.-Career:Pintea graduated from the Theatrical and Cinematographical Arts Institute in Romania . He appeared in the 2005 Romanian film Femeia visurilor directed by Dan Piţa. Pintea made his last appearance in Francis Ford Coppola's 2007 film Youth Without...
.
In December 1989, Rebengiuc was a participant in the Romanian Revolution
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
, which managed to topple the Ceauşescu regime and end Communist Party's rule. He joined the crowd of revolutionaries heading into the Romanian Television
Romanian television
Romanian television may refer to:* Communications media in Romania* Televiziunea Română, TVR, the national television network* List of Romanian language television channels...
building, and voiced anti-communist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
messages in front of live cameras. In early 1990, he rallied with the Golaniad
Golaniad
The Golaniad was a protest in Romania in the University Square, Bucharest. It was initiated by students and professors at the University of Bucharest....
protesters in University Square
University Square, Bucharest
University Square is located in downtown Bucharest, near the University of Bucharest.Four statues are located in the University Square, in front of the University; they depict Ion Heliade Rădulescu , Michael the Brave , Gheorghe Lazăr and Spiru Haret .The square was the site of the 1990 Golaniad,...
, expressing his opposition to the post-communist
Post-Communism
Post-communism is a name sometimes given to the period of political and economic transformation or "transition" in former Communist states located in parts of Europe and Asia, in which new governments aimed to create free market-oriented capitalist economies with some form of parliamentary...
ruling party, the national Salvation Front
National Salvation Front
The National Salvation Front was the governing body of Romania in the first weeks after the Romanian Revolution of 1989, subsequently turned into a political party...
.
1990s and early 2000s
After the end of communism, Rebengiuc continued to act in cinema productions. In 1992, he starred as the Village Mayor in Pintilie's award-winning Balanţa, a role he considered "small, but consistent." His line "AmericansUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
are the stupidest people in the world" is remembered as an ironic reflection of nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
being recovered in communist and anti-capitalist
Anti-capitalism
Anti-capitalism describes a wide variety of movements, ideas, and attitudes which oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists, in the strict sense of the word, are those who wish to completely replace capitalism with another system....
discourse.
The following year, he was in the cast of The Earth's Most Beloved Son, another adaptation from Marin Preda (from the book Cel mai iubit dintre pământeni
Cel mai iubit dintre pamânteni
Cel mai iubit dintre pământeni is the last, and perhaps most elaborate, novel by the Romanian author Marin Preda. Written in 1980, it is an intricate fresco of Communist Romania and the horrors of the Stalinist era...
). The second of Pintilie's films to star Rebengiuc was the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
-nominated drama Too Late
Too Late (1996 film)
Too Late is a 1996 Romanian drama film directed by Lucian Pintilie. It was entered into the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.Dumitri Costa, a young trainee prosecutor is entrusted with the investigation about the suspicious death of a Jiu Valley coal miner in today Romania...
, which discussed the failings of justice in post-communist Romania
History of Romania since 1989
- 1989 revolution :1989 marked the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. A mid-December protest in Timişoara against the eviction of a Hungarian minister grew into a country-wide protest against the Ceauşescu régime, sweeping the dictator from power....
, where he played the role of Elephant Foot. In 1997, he was in Piţa's The Man of the Day
The Man of the Day
The Man of the Day was a 1997 Romanian film directed by Dan Piţa....
, which was based on a screenplay by Radu F. Alexandru, and, in 1999, starred alongside Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
and Romanian actors in Gábor Tompa
Gábor Tompa
Gábor Tompa is a Romanian theater director and teacher, born in Târgu Mureş on August 8, 1957. Since 2007 he has been Head of Directing at the Theatre and Dance Department of the University of California, San Diego...
's Chinese Defense. Rebengiuc also starred as Grigore Cafanu in Pintilie's 1998 film Last Stop Paradise (awarded the Special Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
).
He was also sporadically present on the stage with Bulandra, and stated that he was not interested in starring in works of experimental theater, indicating that it did not suit his taste. Between 1990 and 1996, he was head of the Theater Institute. Speaking in 2005, he said that his ultimate goal was to be "a great actor", elaborating that this implied: "acting in a role and not having anything to reproach myself afterwards. Acting without any specks, being without fault, this is what makes me continue." He made a similar statement in 2008, adding: "I do not act beyond reproach. I have good accomplishments, but there are those sections of a part that I do not cover [...]. When there will no longer be such uncovered sections [...] only then will I say: man, I'm a great actor!"
He was Caliban
Caliban (character)
Caliban is one of the primary antagonists in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.- Character :Caliban is forced into servitude on an island ruled by Prospero. While he is referred to as a calvaluna or mooncalf, a freckled monster, he is the only human inhabitant of the island that is otherwise...
in Bulandra's 1991 production of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
, appearing alongside his fellow actor and revolutionary Ion Caramitru
Ion Caramitru
Ion Caramitru is a Romanian stage and film actor, stage director, as well as a political figure. He was Minister of Culture between 1996 and 2000, in the Romanian Democratic Convention cabinets of Victor Ciorbea, Gavril Dejeu, Radu Vasile, Alexandru Athanasiu, and Mugur Isărescu.-Early life and...
. He starred in several main roles in classical plays, and, as Nick Bottom
Nick Bottom
Nick Bottom is a character in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream who provides comic relief throughout the play, and is famously known for getting his head transformed into that of an ass by the elusive Puck within the play.- Overview :...
in Ciulei's production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
, received the UNITER
UNITER
UNITER or Uniter is a Romanian organization, created as a professional association of theater employees...
prize. He had several main roles in play by acclaimed stage director Silviu Purcărete: Horazio in Carlo Goldoni
Carlo Goldoni
Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni was an Italian playwright and librettist from the Republic of Venice. His works include some of Italy's most famous and best-loved plays. Audiences have admired the plays of Goldoni for their ingenious mix of wit and honesty...
's The Comical Theater, Pelasgus
Pelasgus
In Greek mythology, Pelasgus was the eponymous ancestor of the Pelasgians, the mythical inhabitants of Greece who established the worship of the Dodonaean Zeus, Hephaestus, the Cabeiri, and other divinities. In the different parts of the country once occupied by Pelasgians, there existed...
in Aeschylus
Aeschylus
Aeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
' The Suppliants
The Suppliants (Aeschylus)
The Suppliants is a play by Aeschylus. It was probably first performed sometime after 470 BC as the first play in a tetralogy, sometimes referred to as the Danaid Tetralogy, which probably included the lost plays The Egyptians , and The Daughters of Danaus , and the satyr play Amymone...
, and the tile role in Shakespeare's King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
. In 2001, Rebengiuc and his wife appeared together in Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
's Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski....
, produced for Bulandra by Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n director Yuri Kordonsky. The same year, he was Fetisov in Hristo Boytchev's The Colonel Bird and appeared in Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
's Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's...
(directed by, respectively, Alexandru Dabija and Gábor Tompa).
Rebengiuc also appeared in his first major television production, Tandreţea lăcustelor, adapted by Dan Necşulea from a screenplay by Eugene Pretorian, and aired by TVR 1
TVR 1
TVR1 is the main channel of the Romanian public broadcaster TVR.The most important show of the channel is Jurnalul TVR, whose motto is Jurnalul aşa cum ar trebui sǎ fie! , but on 28 March 2009 was replaced by Telejurnal...
in 2003. It depicted the lives of people made rich and powerful by the Revolution, who invest their energies in undermining each other's positions. The same year, he again collaborated with Pintilie, starring opposite Răzvan Vasilescu
Răzvan Vasilescu
Răzvan Vasilescu is a Romanian actor. He has appeared in 40 films and television shows since 1979. He starred in The Oak, which was screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.-Selected filmography:...
and Niki and Flo, impersonating Colonel Niki Ardelean. His character, whom Rebengiuc himself describes as "a modest man, but one who knows his own value", is exasperated by Flo's continuous intrusion into his life, and eventually turns to murder. He describes this part as the most straightforward of his film characters, and indicates that working with screenwriter Cristi Puiu
Cristi Puiu
Cristi Puiu is a Romanian film director and screenwriter.Puiu's first interest in art was painting and in 1992, he was admitted as a student at the Painting Department of Ecole Superieure d'Arts Visuels in Geneva. After the first year he switched to film studies at the same school and graduated in...
impressed him. In 2004, he and Puiu collaborated on the short film Cigarettes and Coffee, which received the Golden Bear
Golden Bear
According to legend, the Golden Bear was a large golden Ursus arctos. Members of the Ursus arctos species can reach masses of . The Grizzly Bear and the Kodiak Bear are North American subspecies of the Brown Bear....
at the Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
. Rebengiuc, who portrayed one of three characters (The Father), describes feeling "pleased" by the collaboration, and having to work with "one of the best" texts. This performance also earned him prizes at the Transilvania International Film Festival
Transilvania International Film Festival
The Transilvania International Film Festival is a film festival held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania and established in 2001 by Romanian Film Promotion...
in Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...
and the Anonimul Film Festival in the Danube Delta
Danube Delta
The Danube Delta is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Romania , while its northern part, on the left bank of the Chilia arm, is situated in Ukraine . The approximate surface is...
.
Late 2000s
With the Bulandra crew, he was also cast as The Father in Liviu Ciulei's adaptation of Luigi PirandelloLuigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
's Six Characters in Search of an Author
Six Characters in Search of an Author
Six Characters in Search of an Author is a play by the Italian writer Luigi Pirandello.The play is a satirical tragicomedy. It was first performed in 1921 at the Teatro Valle in Rome, to a very mixed reception, with shouts from the audience of "Manicomio!" .Subsequently the play enjoyed a much...
(2005-2006 season). He was praised by critic Valentin Dumitrescu for a "remarkable performance covering the palette of the tragic-grotesque and de-canonized myth of an insurmountable condition". Rebengiuc starred in another of Pintilie's productions, Tertium non datur (based on a story by Vasile Voiculescu
Vasile Voiculescu
Vasile Voiculescu was a Romanian poet, short-story writer, playwright, and physician.-Early life and education:Voiculescu was born in Pârscov, Buzău County, Romania, to a family of wealthy peasants. He attended primary school in Pleşcoi, a village near his home, for a year, after which he was sent...
), playing The General. He collaborated with Kordonsky on three other stage productions: Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist.Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism...
's Marriage, Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale was a Wallachian-born Romanian playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager, political commentator and journalist...
's Conu' Leonida faţă cu reacţiunea (which was shown only once, during a UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
festivity in Buşteni
Busteni
Buşteni is a small mountain town in the north of the county Prahova, in the center of Romania. It is located in the Prahova Valley, at the bottom of the Bucegi mountains, that have a maximum altitude of 2505 m. Its name literally means tree-logs in Romanian. One village, Poiana Ţapului, is...
) and Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhaíl Afanásyevich Bulgákov was a Soviet Russian writer and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, which The Times of London has called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.-Biography:Mikhail Bulgakov was born on...
's Heart of a Dog
Heart of a Dog
Heart of a Dog , a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, is a biting satire of the New Soviet man written in 1925 at the height of the NEP period, when Communism appeared to be weakening in the Soviet Union....
, where he was Preobrazhensky. The latter play was notably showcased at the József Katona Theater in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, Hungary during autumn 2007. Rebengiuc also resumed his work in television productions, appearing in the short series La Urgenţă (aired by TVR 1 in 2006-2007), and in several episodes of Pro TV
Pro TV
Launched in December 1995, Pro TV reaches almost 99% of Romania’s 21.5 million people and has 48% of its broadcast schedule comprising locally-produced programs...
's Cu un pas înainte. In 2007, entitled to an age pension provided he retires, the actor stated: "I am valid and I still act... When I shall no longer act, I will place myself at a street corner, perchance someone will recognize me and hand me a pretzel or something."
In early 2008, he was Willy Loman in the Bulandra production of Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was the recipient of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. Premiered at the Morosco Theatre in February 1949, the original production ran for a total of 742 performances.-Plot :Willy Loman...
(directed by Felix Alexa). He appeared again alongside Mihuţ, who played Linda, in what was announced as his comeback to the world of theater. During the same months, Rebengiuc, together with Gheorghe Dinică
Gheorghe Dinica
Gheorghe Dinică was a Romanian actor.Dinică showed an early interest in acting, being part of different amateur theater troupes since he was 17. In 1957, he entered The National Institute of Theatre and Cinematography Art in Bucharest. He graduated in 1961, already drawing public attention with...
and Marin Moraru, was awarded the title of Doctor honoris causa by the Theater Institute.
Also in 2007-2008, Rebengiuc was cast in two films: După EA and Silent Wedding
Silent Wedding
Silent Wedding is a 2008 Romanian comedy-drama film about a young couple prior to marry in 1953, but their marriage was stopped because Soviet leader Joseph Stalin died the night before their wedding. They couldn't marry but tried to marry in silence. It is directed by Horatiu Malaele....
, the debut production of his friend and colleague Horaţiu Mălăele. He also released an audiobook version of Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
's The Death of Ivan Ilyich
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
The Death of Ivan Ilyich , first published in 1886, is a novella by Leo Tolstoy, and is considered to be one of the masterpieces of his late fiction, written shortly after his religious conversion of the late 1870s.-Characters:...
. In February, just before the actor turned 75, journalists Simona Chiţan and Mihaela Michailov published De-a dreptul Victor Rebengiuc ("Victor Rebengiuc for Sure"), a book they dedicated to his acting career, edited by Humanitas
Humanitas publishing house
Humanitas is an independent Romanian publishing house, founded on February 1, 1990 in Bucharest by the philosopher Gabriel Liiceanu...
. Rebengiuc, who discussed his Christian faith in interviews, also began applying his actor's craft to religious broadcasting
Religious broadcasting
Religious broadcasting refers to broadcasting by religious organizations, usually with a religious message. Many religious organizations have long recorded content such as sermons and lectures, and have moved into distributing content on their Internet websites.While this article emphasises...
, with readings of the Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
.
His performance as Willy Loman was awarded another UNITER prize in April 2009. The same year, Rebengiuc appeared in Călin Netzer's film Medalia de onoare, and his interpretation as an unwitting war hero was awarded prizes at the Torino Film Festival
Torino Film Festival
The Torino Film Festival is an international film festival held annually in Turin, Italy. Held every November, it is the second largest film festival in Italy, following the Venice Film Festival...
and the International Thessaloniki Film Festival. The role earned him another Best Male Actor Award at the Transilvania Film Festival, 2010 edition, where he was a guest of honor. In October 2010, he received the Prometheus Opera Omnia Award for Performance Art, granted by the Anonimul Foundation.
He also embarked on a collaboration with the National Theater Bucharest (TNB), as Joe Keller in Arthur Miller's All My Sons
All My Sons
All My Sons is a 1947 play by Arthur Miller. The play was twice adapted for film; in 1948, and again in 1987.The play opened on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City on January 29, 1947, closed on November 8, 1947 and ran for 328 performances...
—under Caramitru's direction. Theater critic Silvia Dumitrache, who called the show "lively and dynamic, tense and troubling", highlights the fact that Rebengiuc created a "rather positive" portrayal of a negative role, serving to cast "an even more tragic light over the play." Rebengiuc was also the lead in another TNB production, Legenda Marelui Inchizitor ("The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor"), adapted by Radu Penciulescu from Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. He is best known for his novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov....
's eponymous parable
The Grand Inquisitor
The Grand Inquisitor is a parable told by Ivan to Alyosha in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov . Ivan and Alyosha are brothers; Ivan questions the possibility of a personal, benevolent God and Alyosha is a novice monk....
. Critic Dan Boicea, who noted that the production relied on Rebengiuc's monologues, also argued: "Rebengiuc does not in any way exaggerate, he is passionate through his gentleness, he is firm in the manner through which he spares his energy [...]. He does not erupt at the moment of climax
Climax (narrative)
The Climax is the point in the story where the main character's point of view changes, or the most exciting/action filled part of the story. It also known has the main turning point in the story...
, although he could have well fallen into this sin."
Early causes
In a 2005 interview with Dilema VecheDilema Veche
Dilema veche , formerly Dilema, is a Romanian weekly journal of culture, criticism and opinion.- History :It was founded as Dilema in 1993 by art critic Andrei Pleşu and up until the end of 2003 it was edited by an independent cultural body, Fundaţia Culturală Română...
, Victor Rebengiuc said: "I have but one certainty: communist society is bad. After the unfortunate experience of several tens of years, I would shove my hand into the furnace over this issue." Despite being confronted with recruitment campaigns before 1989, Rebengiuc never joined the Romanian Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
and felt that his role in Heart of a Dog
Heart of a Dog
Heart of a Dog , a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, is a biting satire of the New Soviet man written in 1925 at the height of the NEP period, when Communism appeared to be weakening in the Soviet Union....
was "representative" of himself, owing to the anti-communist undertones in Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhaíl Afanásyevich Bulgákov was a Soviet Russian writer and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, which The Times of London has called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.-Biography:Mikhail Bulgakov was born on...
's play.
Rebengiuc first voiced his political message to the public during the Romanian Revolution
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
, when he was present in the Romanian Television
Romanian television
Romanian television may refer to:* Communications media in Romania* Televiziunea Română, TVR, the national television network* List of Romanian language television channels...
building. In an iconic moment, he held up a roll of toilet paper
Toilet paper
Toilet paper is a soft paper product used to maintain personal hygiene after human defecation or urination. However, it can also be used for other purposes such as blowing one's nose when one has a cold or absorbing common spills around the house, although paper towels are more used for the latter...
to the camera, urging viewers and members of the television staff who had promoted Ceauşescu's personality cult to clean up after themselves. In 2008, Rebengiuc recalled: "I had been wanting to do this gesture for a long time, and I think it was the most appropriate of moments. I know I took a lot of people by surprise. I told them that people who ate shit and who filled up our lives and ears with Ceauşescu this, Ceauşescu that, ought to disappear. That paper was supposed to wipe out some traces. I am still fighting windmills." Elsewhere, he spoke of his motivations: "All those who just an hour or two before were still eulogizing Ceauşescu were [still] on television. And, just like that, they were on television, making themselves look innocent, pure. [...] Me, until December 22, 1989 [that is, the day Ceauşescu fled], I was wondering: gee, what will all these shit-eaters be doing if the regime is changed? Will they be ashamed? Will they run to hide in dark corners? And then I see them on television..." Rebengiuc, who credits his son Tudor with having urged him to walk into the Television building, also remembers reciting Doina, a nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
poem by Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu was a Romantic poet, novelist and journalist, often regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and he worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul , the official newspaper of the Conservative Party...
, changing stress from its condemnation of foreigners to read like an attack on people associated with the regime.
On May 1, 1990, at the height of the Golaniad
Golaniad
The Golaniad was a protest in Romania in the University Square, Bucharest. It was initiated by students and professors at the University of Bucharest....
events, Rebengiuc read a Protest of the Romanian Intellectuals, expressing solidarity with the students gathered in University Square
University Square, Bucharest
University Square is located in downtown Bucharest, near the University of Bucharest.Four statues are located in the University Square, in front of the University; they depict Ion Heliade Rădulescu , Michael the Brave , Gheorghe Lazăr and Spiru Haret .The square was the site of the 1990 Golaniad,...
in opposition to the National Salvation Front
National Salvation Front
The National Salvation Front was the governing body of Romania in the first weeks after the Romanian Revolution of 1989, subsequently turned into a political party...
. It was signed by 27 cultural personalities, among them civil society militants (Gabriel Andreescu
Gabriel Andreescu
Gabriel Andreescu is a Romanian human rights activist and political scientist born on 8 April 1952 in Buzǎu. He is one of the few Romanian dissidents who openly opposed Ceauşescu and the Communist regime in Romania....
, Doina Cornea
Doina Cornea
Doina Cornea is a Romanian human rights activist and French professor. She was notable as a dissident during the communist regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu.-Dissidence under communism:...
, Radu Filipescu
Radu Filipescu
Radu Filipescu is a former Romanian anti-Communist dissident. He is the youngest son of Zorel Filipescu and Carmelita-Ileana Filipescu. His elder brother is Doru Filipescu, a well known orthopedic surgeon on Sf. Ioan Hospital, in Bucharest...
), journalists (Cornel Nistorescu
Cornel Nistorescu
Cornel Nistorescu is a Romanian journalist, best known as the editor of Evenimentul Zilei daily. He is known in the United States for an editorial he wrote entitled Cîntarea Americii regarding the American response to the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001.Nistorescu graduated from the...
, Octavian Paler
Octavian Paler
Octavian Paler was a Romanian writer, journalist, politician in Communist Romania, and civil society activist in post-1989 Romania.-Biography:Octavian Paler was born in Lisa, Braşov Country.He was educated at Spiru Haret High School in Bucharest...
), essayists (Gabriela Adameşteanu
Gabriela Adamesteanu
Gabriela Adameșteanu is a Romanian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, and translator. The author of the celebrated novels The Equal Way of Every Day and Wasted Morning , she is also known as an activist in support of civil society and member of the Group for Social Dialogue , as...
, Ana Blandiana
Ana Blandiana
Ana Blandiana is a Romanian poet, essayist, and political figure. She took her name after Blandiana, near Vinţu de Jos, Alba County, her mother's home village.-Literary career:...
, Petru Creţia, Ştefan Augustin Doinaş
Stefan Augustin Doinas
Ştefan Augustin Doinaş was a Romanian Neoclassical poet of the Communist era....
, Ion Bogdan Lefter, Romulus Rusan), visual artists (Horia Bernea
Horia Bernea
-External links:** Editura Liternet: , ISBN: 973-8475-14-7...
, Sorin Dumitrescu, Mihai Stănescu), actors (Irina Petrescu, Florin Zamfirescu and Rebengiuc's wife Mariana Mihuţ), musicians (Corneliu Cezar, Teodor Grigoriu, Johnny Răducanu
Johnny Raducanu
Johnny Răducanu was a Romanian jazz pianist of Romani ethnic background, whose family has a long musical tradition dating back to the 17th century....
), scientist Edmond Nicolau and filmmaker Lucian Pintilie
Lucian Pintilie
-Filmography:* Duminică la ora şase * Reconstituirea * Salonul numărul 6 * De ce trag clopotele, Mitică? - see also the "Portrayals and tributes" section at Mitică* Balanţa * O vară de neuitat * Prea târziu...
. The document offered praise to the Timişoara Proclamation
Proclamation of Timisoara
The Proclamation of Timişoara was a thirteen-point written document, drafted on March 11, 1990 by the Timişoara participants in Romania's 1989 Revolution, and partly issued in reaction to the first Mineriad...
, through which both the 1989 revolutionaries and the Golaniad were asking for the application of lustration
Lustration
Lustration is the government process regulating the participation of former communists, especially informants of the communist secret police, in the successor political appointee positions or in civil service positions in the period after the fall of the various European Communist states in 1989 –...
in Romanian politics
Politics of Romania
Politics of Romania take place in a framework of a semi-presidential parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Romania is the head of government and the President of Romania exercises the functions of head of state. Romania has a multi-party system. Executive...
, and stressed the continuity between the two forms of street protest, while objecting to the Salvation Front's allegations that the protesters were jeopardizing social consensus: "[The demonstrators] express the Revolution's spirit, the sacrifice of those who have stood for the Romanian people's horror for any form of totalitarianism
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
. The Government's decision to refuse dialogue with the demonstrators, with those who have signed the Proclamation, still divides the population, still alienates one of the most active and responsible sections of the nation. [...] We too wish for stability, but we wish for a moral stability, one based not on personal or party interests, but on the interests of the country and on the sacred aspirations of the December Revolution."
After 1990, Rebengiuc remained a critic of the Salvation Front's successor, the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (Romania)
The Social Democratic Party is the major social-democratic political party in Romania. It was formed in 1992, after the post-communist National Salvation Front broke apart. It adopted its present name after a merger with a minor social-democratic party in 2001. Since its formation, it has always...
. He felt that "The party in power immediately after the Revolution only changed its name and high-ranking leadership, that is all. People were still tied to the communist party's mentality." During the early 1990s, Rebengiuc sympathized with the opposition National Liberals
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
, and, without formalizing his affiliation, ran in elections for the Senate
Senate of Romania
The Senate of Romania is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 137 seats , to which members are elected by direct popular vote, using Mixed member proportional representation in 42 electoral districts , to serve four-year terms.-Former location:After the Romanian...
in the 1990 suffrage. Rebengiuc later reflected: "Fortunately, I was not elected." The actor also publicized his monarchism
Monarchism
Monarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government out of principle, independent from the person, the Monarch.In this system, the Monarch may be the...
: in April 1992, he was one of the celebrities welcoming Michael I
Michael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...
, the deposed King of Romania
King of Romania
King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....
, during his return visit to the post-communist country. In 2003-2004, Rebengiuc was affiliated with the minor party Union for Romanian Reconstruction
Union for Romanian Reconstruction
The Union for Romanian Reconstruction was a political party in Romania without parliamentary representation. It merged with the Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party in December 2004....
(URR). He later stated: "It was a political proposal I believed in. URR could have been a change of the political class." He indicated that his reasons for parting with the group was its failure to gain popularity and reach the number of votes necessary to enter Parliament
Parliament of Romania
The Parliament of Romania is made up of two chambers:*The Chamber of Deputies*The SenatePrior to the modifications of the Constitution in 2003, the two houses had identical attributes. A text of a law had to be approved by both houses...
during the 2004 elections
Romanian legislative election, 2004
The Romanian legislative election of 2004 was held on 28 November 2004. 137 seats in the Senate of Romania and 314 seats in the Chamber of Deputies were up for election.The 2004 legislative election was held simultaneously with the presidential election...
.
Civil society activist
Since 2002, Rebengiuc has been a member of the non-governmental organizationNon-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
Asociaţia Revoluţionarilor fără Privilegii (Association of Non-Privileged Revolutionaries), alongside Ion Caramitru
Ion Caramitru
Ion Caramitru is a Romanian stage and film actor, stage director, as well as a political figure. He was Minister of Culture between 1996 and 2000, in the Romanian Democratic Convention cabinets of Victor Ciorbea, Gavril Dejeu, Radu Vasile, Alexandru Athanasiu, and Mugur Isărescu.-Early life and...
, Dan Pavel
Dan Pavel
Dan Pavel is a Romanian political scientist, academic, politician, journalist and 1989 revolutionary. He was a consultant to Gigi Becali in 2003.-References:...
, Radu Filipescu and others. In reference to the goal behind this group, Filipescu states: "The Association was established as a reaction to the very active organizations of revolutionaries, which were mostly active in demanding material gains. Ultimately, the situation arose where joining an association of revolutionaries had the connotation of pursuing material gains, privileges." He is also a member of the Group for Social Dialog (GDS), a platform for reform-minded intellectuals. As of 2005, he was, with fellow revolutionary Mircea Diaconu, one of the two actors among its 48 members.
He chose to retire from Romanian politics, stating in 2008: "I see no sense in being involved, since I cannot go all the way in opting for any person. I do not believe in any of the people I could elect at this moment, and I therefore prefer to stand aside." Confessing that he cannot bring himself to even read newspapers, he declares himself "disgusted" with the political class. Despite his withdrawal, he signed his name to a set of initiatives which presume a political role. In March 2006, the actor voiced a public appeal signed by 30 non-governmental organizations and over 230 public figures, through which he asked President
President of Romania
The President of Romania is the head of state of Romania. The President is directly elected by a two-round system for a five-year term . An individual may serve two terms...
Traian Băsescu
Traian Basescu
Traian Băsescu is the current President of Romania. After serving as the mayor of Bucharest from June 2000 until December 2004, he was elected president in the Romanian Presidential Elections of 2004 and inaugurated on December 20, 2004...
to effect the condemnation of the communist regime in the spirit of the Timişoara Proclamation.
Partly as a result of this appeal, the head of state instituted the Presidential Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania
Presidential Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania
The Presidential Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania , also known as the Tismăneanu Commission , is a commission instituted in Romania by President Traian Băsescu to investigate the Communist regime and provide a comprehensive report allowing for the condemnation of...
, which was headed by historian Vladimir Tismăneanu
Vladimir Tismaneanu
Vladimir Tismăneanu is a Romanian and American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park...
, and a report which the president read in Parliament. During the subsequent controversy, criticism of Băsescu and the report was notably voiced by the opposition groups: the Social Democrats, the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (Romania)
The Conservative Party of Romania is a political party formed in 1991, after the fall of Communism, under the name of the Romanian Humanist Party . From 2005 until December 3, 2006, the party was a junior member of the ruling coalition...
and the Greater Romania Party
Greater Romania Party
The Greater Romania Party is a Romanian radical right-wing, ultra-nationalist political party, led by Corneliu Vadim Tudor. The party is sometimes referred to in English as the Great Romania Party....
. In February 2007, as parliamentary forces voted in favor of an impeachment referendum
Romanian presidential impeachment referendum, 2007
The Romanian presidential impeachment referendum of 2007 was conducted in order to determine whether the president of Romania Traian Băsescu should be forced to step down.On April 19, 2007 the Romanian parliament suspended Băsescu...
against Băsescu, Rebengiuc joined Tismăneanu and 48 other intellectuals in signing an open letter
Open letter
An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally....
condemning the move. They argued that such a reaction had been made possible by "the concerted attacks of those who felt shaken their business, their impunity, the possibility of perpetuating the post-communist oligarchic
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
state." Warning that, together with the break-up of the Justice and Truth Alliance, this kind of reaction had fermented "a political crisis", they also supported Băsescu's stated goals of stamping out corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
and granting the public opening the archives of the communist secret police, the Securitate
Securitate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
. Other signatories of the letter included Gabriel Liiceanu
Gabriel Liiceanu
Gabriel Liiceanu is a Romanian philosopher.He graduated from University of Bucharest's Faculty of Philosophy in 1965, and from Faculty of Classical Languages in 1973. He earned a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Bucharest in 1976....
, Sorin Ilieşiu, Mircea Mihăieş, Dan C. Mihăilescu, Mircea Cărtărescu
Mircea Cartarescu
Mircea Cărtărescu is a Romanian poet, novelist and essayist.Born in Bucharest, he graduated from the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Letters, Department of Romanian Language And Literature, in 1980. Between 1980 and 1989 he worked as a Romanian language teacher, then he worked at the Writers'...
, Magda Cârneci, Horia-Roman Patapievici
Horia-Roman Patapievici
Horia-Roman Patapievici is a Romanian physicist and essayist who currently serves as the head of the Romanian Cultural Institute. Between 2000 and 2005, he was a member of the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives, supporting more openness regarding the files of the...
, Şerban Rădulescu-Zoner, Andrei Oişteanu
Andrei Oisteanu
Andrei Oişteanu is a Romanian historian of religions and mentalities, ethnologist, cultural anthropologist, literary critic and novelist. Specialized in the history of religions and mentalities, he is also noted for his investigation of rituals and magic and his work in Jewish studies and the...
, Ruxandra Cesereanu
Ruxandra Cesereanu
Ruxandra-Mihaela Cesereanu or Ruxandra-Mihaela Braga is a Romanian poet, essayist, short story writer, novelist and literary critic...
, Dan Perjovschi
Dan Perjovschi
Dan Perjovschi is an artist, writer and cartoonist born in 1961 in Sibiu, Romania. Perjovschi has over the past decade created drawings in museum spaces, most recently in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in which he created the drawing during business hours for patrons to see. The drawings...
, Alexandru Zub
Alexandru Zub
Alexandru Zub is a Romanian historian, biographer, essayist, political activist and academic. A former Professor at the University of Iaşi, noted for his contribution to the study of cultural history and Romanian history, he is currently head of the A. D. Xenopol Institute of History and Archeology...
, Virgil Nemoianu
Virgil Nemoianu
Virgil Nemoianu is a Romanian-American essayist, literary critic, and philosopher of culture. He is generally described as a specialist in “comparative literature” but this is a somewhat limiting label, only partially covering the wider range of his activities and accomplishments...
, Adriana Babeţi, Livius Ciocârlie, Andrei Cornea, Sabina Fati, Florin Gabrea, Andrei Pippidi, Dan Tapalagă, Sever Voinescu
Sever Voinescu
Sever Voinescu is a Romanian journalist, political analyst, diplomat and right-wing politician. A Foreign Affairs Ministry figure during the mid-1990s, he was later a Consul General of Romania in Chicago, United States. Voinescu became known as a columnist for Dilema Veche weekly and Cotidianul...
, Florin Ţurcanu, Hannelore Baier and Traian Ungureanu.
His call to uncover the secrets of Romania's communist past also made him look up data kept on him by the Securitate and placed at his disposal by the CNSAS, a state agency which manages Securitate archives. He believes that certain information is still missing from his file, indicating that his tendency to speak his mind is likely to have caused the authorities to keep him under surveillance. He also stresses that he long suspected people in his pre-1989 entourage of having informed on him to the Securitate, and recounts having received hate mail
Hate mail
Hate mail is a form of harassment, usually consisting of invective and potentially intimidating or threatening comments towards the recipient...
soon after the Revolution, especially after having expressed criticism for the Salvation Front.
In January 2007, Rebengiuc and Perjovschi also spoke out on the issue of cultural policies, protesting against the state-run Center for Cinema Production: together with actor Florin Piersic Jr, filmmaker Radu Afrim, and critics Mihai Chirilov
Mihai Chirilov
Mihai Cristian Chirilov , is a Romanian film critic- one of the most influential of his generation- and artistic director of the Transilvania International Film Festival- TIFF .- Biography :...
, Alex Leo Şerban, Marius Chivu and Daniel Cristea-Enache, they endorsed an online
ONLINE
ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
petition which condemned the institution for its decision to grant funding to the projects of controversial director Sergiu Nicolaescu
Sergiu Nicolaescu
Sergiu Florin Nicolaescu is a Romanian film director, actor and politician. He is best known for his historical films, such as Mihai Viteazul , Dacii , Razboiul Independenţei , as well as for his series of...
, and for failing to finance young and internationally acclaimed directors such as Cristi Puiu
Cristi Puiu
Cristi Puiu is a Romanian film director and screenwriter.Puiu's first interest in art was painting and in 1992, he was admitted as a student at the Painting Department of Ecole Superieure d'Arts Visuels in Geneva. After the first year he switched to film studies at the same school and graduated in...
and Thomas Ciulei. Three years later, during the Transilvania International Film Festival
Transilvania International Film Festival
The Transilvania International Film Festival is a film festival held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania and established in 2001 by Romanian Film Promotion...
, Rebengiuc voiced a public protest of cinema professionals against Nicolaescu's law project, which aimed to modify the criteria in use for the public financing of films. Their protest, codified in the Cluj Proclamation, earned support from visiting German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
director Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders
Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer and producer.-Early life:Wenders was born in Düsseldorf. He graduated from high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg and Düsseldorf...
.
Rebengiuc was also the spokesman of a 2009 campaign launched by Realitatea TV
Realitatea TV
Realitatea TV is a Romanian news television network. The channel is distributed by many cable operators in Romania and Moldova. Its main owner is Romanian businessman Elan Schwartzenberg....
and titled Noi vrem respect ("We Demand Respect"). The initiative announced as its goal the change of morals and attitudes among the Romanians: "Cheekiness will not turn one into God, money will not make us masters, ignorance does not make us blessed." In a promotional video headlining the campaign, Rebengiuc himself stated that he felt solidarity with the Realitatea vision, being motivated in this by what he saw as a general decrease in standards within Romanian society. His participation in the project was the topic of criticism: commentators argued that the station was using the slogan in the political battle leading up to the 2009 election
Romanian presidential election, 2009
The first round of 2009 Romanian presidential elections was held in Romania on 22 November and a run-off round between Traian Băsescu and Mircea Geoană was held on 6 December 2009. Although most exit polls favored Geoană in the runoff, the authorities declared Băsescu the narrow victor with 50.33%...
, and thus reflected its patron Sorin Ovidiu Vântu
Sorin Ovidiu Vântu
Sorin Ovidiu Vântu is a Romanian businessman and owner of the Realitatea-Caţavencu media company. In 2008 he was considered the 5th richest man in Romania with an estimated net worth between 800 and 850 million euros....
's option for the anti-Băsescu parties and trade unions. Journalist and academic Bogdan Iancu, who entered a polemic with Realitatea over the issue of covert political support, suggested that there was a contrast between Rebengiuc's stance during the Revolution (the toilet paper episode) and his lending credibility to what "reeks of manipulation intelligently packaged in the suave discourse of social responsibility". In contrast, writer Cezar Paul-Bădescu found the campaign "laudable", describing it the start of a "moral revolution" and believing Rebengiuc's role to have been "as usual, extraordinary", but noting that Realitatea had itself failed at maintaining the journalistic standard it implicitly advertised.