The difference between false memories and true ones
is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant.
Salvador Dali
12.08 East of Bucharest raises a great many questions about the nature of memory and the different interpretations of a single event from the varying perspectives within and without it. In this case, the flight of the Ceaucescu's in December 1989, and the question(s) of the varying degrees of involvement of individuals in the events in a provincial Romanian town.
I found this particulary interesting, not least because (I thought) the images of the dead President and his wife are one of my clearest memories of the collapse of the Communist regimes, along with the fall of the Berlin Wall. The question, however, for me, at least, is how much of this I have (re)created after the event - in fact, I m no longer even sure that the footage of the two dead bodies actually appeared on British TV, and I can't find a copy on YouTube or anywhere else to check, and even if I did, I couldn't be sure that it wasn't simply fulfilling the expectations I have having read about the footage in a number of other sources.
This period, or rather the UK media's coverage of it, was one of the major influences that has fired (and, of course continues to fire) my passion for all parts of the former Soviet Bloc. So, dear readers, can any of you confirm, either way, whether or not the footage appeared on the Beeb?
Salvador Dali
12.08 East of Bucharest raises a great many questions about the nature of memory and the different interpretations of a single event from the varying perspectives within and without it. In this case, the flight of the Ceaucescu's in December 1989, and the question(s) of the varying degrees of involvement of individuals in the events in a provincial Romanian town.
I found this particulary interesting, not least because (I thought) the images of the dead President and his wife are one of my clearest memories of the collapse of the Communist regimes, along with the fall of the Berlin Wall. The question, however, for me, at least, is how much of this I have (re)created after the event - in fact, I m no longer even sure that the footage of the two dead bodies actually appeared on British TV, and I can't find a copy on YouTube or anywhere else to check, and even if I did, I couldn't be sure that it wasn't simply fulfilling the expectations I have having read about the footage in a number of other sources.
This period, or rather the UK media's coverage of it, was one of the major influences that has fired (and, of course continues to fire) my passion for all parts of the former Soviet Bloc. So, dear readers, can any of you confirm, either way, whether or not the footage appeared on the Beeb?
posted by lukeski at 9:51 pm
3 Comments:
I remember making a mental note to myself throughout events in 1989 that this was mega-history in the making and that I would simply HAVE TO tell my grandchildren all about it.
Well, the beeb doesn't majorly do blood and guts, so, I'm guessing, will have been reluctant to show the dead Ceausescus. But I have seen them dead, and I'm guessing that was on the beeb. From that footage, there are also the moments leading up to their deaths, I think, with them looking vaguely defiant, but also defeated, and probably shouting that they are the King and Queen of Romania. Then, I don't think the big moment was filmed (or certainly wasn't shown), and then there is them lying bloodied on the ground.
You're not hallucinating.
Ok, so when I realised how to spell their name correctly, I did find the footage on Youtube here. Grim.
It did appear, as I remember it going black, you could only hear the gunshots, and then there was a still of their dead bodies. That's how Romanian TV showed it as well - or "Free Romanian TV" as it was probably named, as all those turncoats quickly burned their government files and became leading members of the "National Salvation Front".
Personally, my favourite memory of "1989" (and I don't really remember any others, apart from the August coup in the Soviet Union) was the Ceaucescus coming out onto their balcony and the shock on their faces when a mass of people told them to basically sod off. You could read "the game's up, guv" very well in their eyes. And then them trying to escape in their helicopter.
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