Adelin Petrișor – The Country With Only One Fat Man

I was only 6 years old in 1989, when the Communist regime fell. I was too young to have had a rightful opinion. I only have dim memories about bottles of milk and high metallic pallets they transported the bottles with. And something else. It had a certain significance, giving the fact that I was a child. Chocolate was a rare gem, and so I remember the craving; also, the first banana I have ever eaten was unripe (even though my parents left some onto the closet to ripe). Maybe this is an explanation to the fact that even today I tend to eat bananas while they are still green, finding them to be more tasteful than the ripe ones.

Back then, I had no idea about the word Communism. It was void of meaning. But I do remember the day the Ceausescu couple fled in a helicopter. My mom asked me to come home, fearing the terrorists. Another void word. I could not grasp what could have happened that was so serious or who were those terrorists, when I was busy playing hide-and-seek with my neighbors. 

Still, the will to clarify all that came back to me over the years. It’s hard to understand something you have never lived. But there are ways. One can watch documentaries, read books. And all of this for no one else but yourself, if you do want to understand things. 

The book RequiemFor Fools And Beasts of the great writer Augustin Buzura helped me to better understand a time I have not lived. Just like the documentary regarding the children of the decree of 1966 did.

Adelin Petrișor’s book helped me understand other aspects of the Romanian Communism, even though the book is about the Communism in North Korea. Moreover, the book raises a signal. And it has two directions. What could have happened if the revolution of 1989 had not occurred. And what could happen if we, as a people, should give once more the power to a person craving for dictatorship.

Adelin Petrișor’s narrative style is simple. He says what he means by using straightforward words, being focused on only sending his clear message out there. This is what I always liked about Mr. Petrișor’s documentaries. 

I warmly recommend reading this book. Not for the sake of the past, nor for the sake of the present; but for a future we picture to be anything but grey.