The Romanian Director Tudor Giurgiu launched this year his 14th movie production, Of Snails and Men, a Romanian comedy meant to mock all our nation’s communist inherited habits.

Here we are in a small town of Romania, some few years after taking down the communist regime. One of the biggest car building factories in Romania is about to be closed and 1000 employees fired.

The workers try to find a solution to take the factory back and not lose their jobs. One of the members of the Employees Syndicate sees an add at TV and gathers all his colleagues to donate sperm and get the money needed to buy the factory. And from here starts a series of hilarious events, with people struggling to achieve their basic needs (having a home, a job, affording to feed and send their children to school).

It’s a movie making fun and joking about all the bad habits the society still has from the communist era : power abuse, seeing own interest, a maniacal desire of becoming rich and a growing snobbish attitude. Also, it perfectly illustrates the lower class situation with people with low education, no culture, who cannot afford anything but staying alive, but who are willing to do anything needed to stay alive as much as possible.

In what the characters concern, Andi Vasluianu makes a perfect role, while Monica Barladeanu didn’t manage to impress me much. It’s an average acting, maybe also because her character didn’t seem to be very well defined.

Of Snails and Men is a movie that actually managed to make me laugh, but mainly because, as a Romanian, I was at least once in one of those embarrassing situations. I would characterize this movie as a more commercial one, I wouldn’t say average, but I would say it’s a movie for the masses. It’s perfect for a Sunday afternoon, when you have nothing else to do and other option would be watching a Hollywood block-buster.