Train of Life: An Interview with Director Radu Mihaileanu

INTERVIEW

Train of Life

Interview with director and writer Radu Mihaileanu

Train of Life

Interview with director and writer Radu Mihaileanu

THC: Congratulations on the film. Were you surprised at the popular international reception, or that it won so many awards?

Mihaileanu: I am always surprised that in different cultures they understand the movie in the same way. The Venice demonstration [in which the audience protested to allow the film to be officially included in the competition--the first demonstration of its kind at a film festival] was a big surprise. Awards are very important, I know now, for marketing, but I am not a guy who wants to be "king of the world." We are dealing with ideas and my ideas are not better, only different. I see the need for awards to promote the film, so I am happy only for the attention, not just the validation of the film.

THC: Other movies have also taken a humorous angle with the Holocaust, why use humor to portray such a tragic event? What about the inevitable comparisons to Life is Beautiful?

Mihaileanu: The script was written before Life is Beautiful. I started it in 1993. I forbid myself to write without a producer, so I stopped work on it until 1995, when I met the producer. Then it took me three months to write the script. The conditions of the concentration camp don't interest me--what interests me is those people, in the shtetl, the lost people. I focused on their ways of living and fighting and loving. I pay more attention to the people, not the horrors of the camp; it is more collective.

Humor for me is a language. Humor is much more incisive and precise. It can show the barbarity of humanity better than the tragedy itself. It is better to answer negative events without violence, to answer death with life.

THC: The movie has been called a modern fairy tale. Who was this fairy tale written for?

Mihaileanu: Fairy tales are not invented--this one came from the tradition of Jewish storytellers like Shalom Aliecham, the biggest storyteller the Jewish people had. The style is sort of a mixture between Jewish theatrical and musical traditions and Warner Brothers cartoons. It is modern, to speak to the younger generation, but without betraying the memory and way of life of older people as well.

THC: In one of the more solemn moments of the movie, the villagers are fighting amongst themselves, questioning whether or not God exists. How does this serious episode fit in with the humor of the rest of the movie, and what are the larger implications of their questioning of their faith?

Mihaileanu: I think this fits in with the rest of the movie. Ultimately, the story is about all human beings. I don't know if I'm religious and I don't have all the answers. But having questions, as the Jewish people say, is half the answer. The question is, are we human beings or not? Are we barbarians, or do we truly exist as human beings? What is a human being? Before blaming God, let's try to watch ourselves in the mirror.

THC: You have referred to Train of Life as "a metaphor for life itself." What does the ending imply for life?

Mihaileanu: As long as we don't forget those people, the people on the train, they will never die. "Don't let me forget their eyes, because I will become crazy," says Shlomo. As long as we don't forget them, the barbarians won't succeed. And if you forget Shlomo, he will die. It is the audience who chooses whether he lives or dies.

THC: Did you have a certain message you wanted the audience to come away with?

Mihaileanu: The only thing I want people to understand is that humanity is wonderfully imperfect, but wonderful. We want to remain imperfect with problems, but we want to try to understand those problems. We just have to try to find peace in our souls. That's the message that my father gave me, that life is such a big gift and we should live it 100%. We should always keep our humor--it is the manifestation of life. We need to keep the humor and our identity and memory, our culture and people, and we need to open our arms and spirit to other people. That train, for me, is all of humanity. We are starting from a specific segment of humanity, but all the problems they have are the same ones we all have. We all have the same problems.

THC: What kind of reception do you think the film will receive in the US?

Mihaileanu: I don't know, but I want everyone to come and bring their kids. I want them to see how beautiful the people were. I hope the people will laugh, cry and sing a little bit; they will decide how the movie does.