The synopsis sounded intriguing, and I'm a fan of both leads, so despite misgivings I went to see this film. Big mistake.The main problem was the inappropriately jaunty, comic tone. Even when they were in the dock and being sentenced to death the gang were fooling about. It's safe to say that Communists aren't renowned for their sense of humour, and are unlikely to be at their perkiest when facing death. I was so bored I fell asleep, so never found out why they pulled the robbery, or who had fathered Alice's child. The fact that this won 9 Romanian Oscar equivalents, including best picture, doesn't reflect well on that country's cinema. Funnily enough there were no awards for the acting, which was the best thing, apart from the actual propaganda film at the end. (The man on whom the leading character seemed based was as bald as Mark Strong, so why was this fine actor made to wear the least convincing toupee since Wayne, Stewart and Heston were last in films?)

Just so you know, I am Romanian, and I've lived there before and after 1989. This film is full of historical inaccuracies (except the main subject, the robbery, which indeed took place in 1959). I wanted to leave within 20 minutes, but that would've not been polite towards the other people in the theater, so I put up with it till the end, to my utter despair. It reminded me of commie propaganda, except this one got a mushy Hollywood feel, and is cheesy to the bone. I can't comment on the acting/directing/etc., since I wasn't able to watch it beyond the first half an hour; I was that disgusted with it. I've seen movies by this director, and expected something decent at the very least. It wasn't the case. If you frequently watch Hollywood B movies, then you'll be fine with it. If you prefer intelligent, well articulated movies, don't bother. This is as commercial as it gets. That being said, it's probably not as bad as Titanic (thus a rating of 2 instead of 1).

Now perhaps the fact that it was a movie about Jewish people should have been obvious from the description. But that needn't be a bad thing. Fiddler on the Roof showed how to tell a story about underlying tragedy in a humorous and inclusive way.To paraphrase: Closer To The Moon is no Fiddler on the RoofIt is just a poorly made movie.I gave up watching it after 10 minutes, which was 5 more than my senses told me I should. I skipped forward to see if it got any better. It doesn't.Very much a niche movie.

In reality, something happened. Some people have been executed without being guilty. They have been forced to play a role in their fake trials and all ended in their execution. A false history was created by some top authorities in order to teach some kind of a lesson to the people that worked in the communist regime structures. This movie was not made for the public. This false reenactment most probably inspired Lucian Pintilie to create a cinematographic masterpiece, Reconstruction (1968). Add to that the fact that Pintilie's film has been done in those crazy times, when you could have gotten into big trouble for criticizing the regime.Now, here comes Caranfil, a great director, that takes the original story and twists it once again, turning these people into courageous heroes that opposed the regime. They get into a suicidal mission just to send a message. How much believable is that? Does this bring justice to the original six persecuted people? I'm not sure about that. There's a documentary, called Marele Jaf Comunist (The Great Communist Robbery) that reveals more of the true story. Anyway, a drama is not supposed to tell the real story, and that's OK, but in this case, it's a pity that some people will take it as history. The real six people have been persecuted in communist style with fake trials and five of them were killed. They were Jews and they were high professionals. Moreover, ironically, they had a history in participating successfully in bringing the communism to Romania. So, why did the regime chose them in order to teach a lesson to the other communists, and probably to the Jewish communists? The movie might leave you with the impression that all Jews were persecuted under the communism. Many of them they were. The Russian occupation brought suffering to all kinds of Romanian citizens. But many of the Jews supported the regime since the beginning.I know that many of the Jews have been disappointed by the communism that they previously believed in. Most of the Jews went to Israel sometimes in the Sixties, but also, many Jews supported the communist repression, leading to massive deportation, imprisonment and execution of hundreds of thousands of Romanian citizens. You will not see this in the movie.