Red nostalgia — when the past comes knocking at the door: “I’m an Old Communist Hag” at the 2025 goEast Festival of Central and Eastern European Film

Romanian director Stere Gulea’s I’m an Old Communist Hag (original title: Sunt o babā comunistā) is a bittersweet reflection on memory, ideology, and the quiet dignity of ordinary lives. 

This 2013 film chronicles the experiences of Emilia (Luminița Gheorghiu), a former factory worker and staunch adherent of communism, as she grapples with the profound societal transformations occurring in post-revolutionary Romania. Upon her daughter’s return from the US, Emilia is confronted with a social environment that appears to be at odds with her previously held principles, yet she remains steadfast in her convictions. Set in the year 2010, the film functions as both a personal account and a social reflection on the contradictions of a nation that is still attempting to come to terms with its memories and the changes it has undergone.

Emilia and her husband, Țucu (Marian Ralea), live in an apartment that seems a shadow of the past, marked by time, and they make no secret of the fact that they are experiencing financial difficulties. Their pension is no longer enough to cover their daily expenses, and the life they had seen as stable, secure, and predictable is now a distant memory. Emilia is an “old communist,” a woman who regrets her stable job and the certainty of a future that now seems far away.

When Emilia is offered the chance to take part in a documentary about Ceaușescu, an opportunity arises for her to relive the past and rediscover the sense of security that the regime seemed to guarantee, despite all its contradictions and injustices. Moved by this desire to recreate a semblance of stability, Emilia tries to reopen the old factory where she worked with her former colleagues, proposing a return to collective work, to the administration of certainties that, according to her, communism would have guaranteed. But this initiative, undertaken with the best of intentions, is destined to remain an illusion. Emilia clashes not only with her former colleagues and her sister, who do not have the same positive view of the past as she does, but also with the internal dynamics of a country very different from the one she knew.

The return of her daughter Alice (Ana Ularu), visiting from the US with her fiancé Alan (Collin Jay Blair), triggers a series of reflections and contrasts. Alice is seen by her family and friends as a symbol of modern success, a young woman who has emigrated to America with expectations that seem to have been fulfilled: instead, Alice and Alan struggle to find a stable job, pay their mortgage, and build the solid life that emigration seemed to promise. The contrast between the security (illusory or not) of the past and the uncertainty of the present is made clear, but without any unnecessary moralising.

The film succeeds in avoiding both nostalgia and condemnation. Emilia engages in open discourse with other characters who, in contrast to her own perspective, recollect the regime as being oppressive and suffocating. In these exchanges, Gulea stages a debate that is still relevant in contemporary Romania, where the democratic and capitalist transition has brought new freedoms, but also profound inequalities and instability. Gulea’s approach is notable for its employment of an ironic yet not cynical tone, which serves to transform a conventional narrative into a more expansive reflection on the post-Soviet context in Eastern Europe.

I’m an Old Communist Hag is an examination of ideology, but one that is situated within the context of family life, as expressed through conversations between relatives and the subtle gestures that characterise everyday interactions. The objective of this work is not to seek out and establish absolute truths; rather, it acknowledges and allows for the complexity of emotions and personal memories. Emilia’s character cannot be categorised as either negative or positive. Emilia is the representative of a generation compelled to reconcile with its history.

I’m an Old Communist Hag (2013) was screened on 27 April as part of the 2025 goEast Festival of Central and Eastern European Film.