Fresh and Exciting

An Exercise In Nonsense

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

one of many stories from East. same subject, same evolution. the bitter sadness, the angry and the people as parts of a social machine. Crulic is, not doubt, a masterpiece. for its precise diagnosis of a large phenomenon. for the impeccable art. for the wise manner to ignore comfortable clichés. for the cold atmosphere. for the remind of truth. for the science to give to it the right form. a film about a man. like too many others in same situation. a man in a foreign country. accused in arbitrary way. his revolt. his fight. bureaucracy. and the end who puts all in an ice light. Crulic is one of films who must be rediscover time by time. for understand the other. for understand again, in better manner, the life. for not ignore the insignificant people. and, maybe, for hope.

This fantastic documentary tells the story of Claudiu Crulic, a 33 yr old Romanian wrongfully accused of stealing the wallet of a Polish judge and his experience on hunger strike while imprisoned as an act of his innocents and demand for help from the Romanian consul that never comes. Told by Crulic, from beyond the grave, he recounts his life story up to his death with details on how he was in Italy at the time of the crime in Poland, his experience while on hunger strike and how prison doctors and the Romanian consul did nothing for his case nor well-being. A case that slipped through the prison cracks. To make it further infuriating, prison doctors claimed he was fine almost up to the very end when he is so emaciated he looked like a 70 yr old man instead of the youthful 33 yr old he was just a couple months prior. By the time prison doctors finally sent him to a hospital, he was so deteriorated his body was beyond medical repair and slowing dying. After his death receives international attention, all authorities and doctors involved denied responsibility and eventually let to the resignation of Romanian foreign minister. Though the film could be slow at times, it is brilliantly and powerfully depicted through various animation techniques of hand-drawn animation, cutouts from photographs, scanned documents, projection, stop motion and digital 3D that manages to hold the viewers attention and keeps them intrigued throughout.

"Crulic – The Path to Beyond" might not fit the standard definition of "documentary" as it uses animation to tell the true story of a Romanian immigrant who is falsely accused of a crime and imprisoned for it. The subject of the doc tells his tale from "beyond" and relates the facts of his case and its eventual resolution. Several styles of animation are used to illustrate Crulic's plight, his attempts to seek release, and his decision to go on a hunger strike to assert his innocence. The case is eventually dropped – because of the death of the accused."Crulic" tells its story in a relatively scant 70 minutes and it tells it well. Only two voices are heard (a narrators and Crulic's) but much more is told via the animation. The soft watercolor palettes may seem at odds with the harshness of the tale, but the contrast works. What may have been a very dry documentary holds the viewers attention visually and this allows the spoken words to resonate.Sadly, Crulic's tale of "justice denied" is not an uncommon one.www.worstshowontheweb.com

I've seen the movie at Istanbul Film Festival. Excellent artwork, pathetic story. Roman workers problematic is familiar for us. We can understand the story very well. In this story you can easily feel Roman workers situation. Artwork is very impressive and has different style. This story reminded me "Waltz with Bashir" Very impressive story about human rights. Director told a powerful story thanks to animation. With real scenes it can be difficult to catch this power. I have seen the movie in a big movie hall. After the movie audience applauded the movie and director. We look forward seeing the team's new animations and artworks. Congratulations.!!!