This Romanian movie has a plot that might sounds ridiculous at first sight, but with time becomes more and more engaging. The movie starts with one of the two protagonists, Costi (Toma Cuzin) telling his young child the story of Robin Hood. Suddenly, there is a knock in the door. It's his neighbor, Adrian (the other protagonist of the movie, played by Adrian Purcarescu). He tells Costi he is risking losing his apartment as he is late on his mortgage payments, so could he please lend him 800 Euros. Costi tells Adrian he sympathizes with him, but can't lend him anything as he is under heavy money problems himself. Eventually, after a long talk, Adrian tells Costi what he needs the 800 Euros for: he wants to hire a metal detector operator so as to see if in the garden of an old property of his family there might be a treasure buried by his grandfather when the communists took over Romania. At least that is what the family legend says, but no one is really sure there is really a treasure buried in his property. After some hesitation, Costi agrees to help Adrian on that search in exchange of a half of the prize.
So the rest of the movie is basically Costi and Adrian pursuing this treasure, with the help at times of an old, slightly corrupt metal detector operator (played by a real professional in that job). This being a Romanian movie, the film is slow, deadpan, and deals quite a lot in bureaucratic detail (Romanian law states that any treasure holding historical value should go to the state, and the discoverers should only get a 30% of it, and Costi and Adrian try during the movie several times to see how to get around that law). Considering Romanian movies have some reputation for dourness, I thought this was going to end in tears, but it happily has (without obviously revealing too much about it) a very satisfying ending.
So the rest of the movie is basically Costi and Adrian pursuing this treasure, with the help at times of an old, slightly corrupt metal detector operator (played by a real professional in that job). This being a Romanian movie, the film is slow, deadpan, and deals quite a lot in bureaucratic detail (Romanian law states that any treasure holding historical value should go to the state, and the discoverers should only get a 30% of it, and Costi and Adrian try during the movie several times to see how to get around that law). Considering Romanian movies have some reputation for dourness, I thought this was going to end in tears, but it happily has (without obviously revealing too much about it) a very satisfying ending.