The Lost Forest

The year is 1916. Apostol Bologa (the outstanding Victor Rebengiuc), a Romanian officer in the Austro-Hungarian army, attends the execution of a deserter. Although he is convinced of the man’s guilt, the event leads him to begin to question the war of which he is now a part. His sense of military duty must contend with his deeply ingrained sense of humanity.... This brilliant, multilayered antiwar drama about a man’s transformation as a consequence of war received the Best Director Award at the 1965 festival in Cannes. The film, which has lost none of its currency or urgency almost 50 years later, was based on the eponymous work by the founder of the modern Romanian novel, Liviu Rebreanu. Director Liviu Ciulei described the film’s final scene as the most beautiful of his entire film career: “…man, woman, bread, salt and wine, love, life and death.” (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)