Synopsis

Dobrin Sicrea lives with his family in a small town in the centre of Transylvania. The place seems dark and dull: extremely polluted by the metal industry, the streets are full of dust, the fields are drab and the thick layer of smog appears impenetrable. When the zinc and lead production factory, Sometra, shuts down in 2009, Dobrin – the father of three children – suddenly finds himself unemployed. As a result, he turns, even more than before, to his Christian faith. Dobrin is convinced that ‘almighty God in his eternal goodness’ will stand by him and his family. Which bears strange consequences: Devoted only to God, he forces his wife Lia and his two healthy children to pray for the healing of his third child, Denise, who depends on a wheelchair. Dobrin prays incessantly for this too, but God remains silent and the miracle Dobrin hopes for never happens. The Romanian director Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan followed the protagonist and his family for more than seven years. The outcome is a multilayered and intense story about the importance of family cohesion in desperate times. Despite being a tribute to the concept of families in theory, this documentary refuses to hide the contradictions and consequences families can bring about in practical terms.

Guests

Mihai Marius Apopei

Mihai Marius Apopei

Cinematographer A Mere Breath

In Vienna: March 22-26