A man (Iurie Darie) walks across a barren field. He stops and picks a flower that is gently waving in the breeze. As soon as he picks the flower, a helicopter appears overhead and chases the man across the field. Then three camouflaged vehicles show up. Armed men wearing silver jumpsuits and buckets over their heads pile out and surround the man. They march him off the field and into one of the camo vehicles and drive away. At the edge of the field are more silver suited men, some government men, and some television cameras. Not far away the men in silver suits are being observed by a gangster (Haralambie Boros), his girlfriend (Liliana Tomescu) and members of his gang. They watch as the men in suits drop an atomic bomb and see a giant mushroom cloud spread.
After the demonstration, the government men dump out the random man and drive away. The gangsters follow. The gangsters break into the government facility and find another bomb. They steal it and put it in a leather bag. The gang is chased by police. The gangsters run away but the satchel with the bomb in it is left behind. The man, who had come to the facility in search of a job, is given the leather bag by one of the fleeing criminals. The man tries to give it back to the facility but is turned away.
The man wanders away, still holding the satchel, still looking for a job. As he walks the city streets, the man sees a pretty young woman (Liliana Tomescu) working as a bus conductor. The two see each other and are smitten. Through the rest of the film, he pursues her as he continues wandering around experiencing random events. In turn, the mobsters follow him hoping to be able to get the bag back and avoid the police who are still looking for the mobsters. The man, oblivious to everything going on around him, goes about his business, still holding the bomb.
“A Bomb Was Stolen” AKA “S-a furat o bomba” was released in 1962 and was directed by Ion Popescu-Gopo. It is a Romanian quasi-silent science fiction fantasy comedy.
It is a strange and quirky, almost avant-garde, little film. There’s no dialogue but it is easy to follow because the film is driven by music, facial expressions and sound effects instead of words. It also contains a healthy dose of comedy, slapstick, farce, satire, symbolism and surrealism. All of this makes the film an interesting mix of art and propaganda. A sort of arms race meets the keystone cops.
There’s a lot more going on here than just comedy and slapstick. Little bits of the human condition are inserted here and there, some of them humorously and some of them not. For example, the desperate man in the soup kitchen line that steals the leather bag is someone who would normally not do such a thing, but his poverty drives him to it. He immediately feels guilt and ashamed and ends up giving it back to the man. Another scene is of rich people dining on a sumptuous meal in a restaurant as the man stands outside looking in, his stomach rumbling because he has no money for food and no job. Some of these scenes reflect what was going on in Romania at the time. The 60’s is when the de-satellization of Communist Romania was in progress and just before Nicolae Ceausescu came to power. The cold war was underway and Russian influence was oppressive.
It ended up being a rather interesting and unusual bit of cinema. It’s kinda funky, and kinda cool.