Cristi is a young police officer, conscientious, laconic, recently married to Anca, a teacher. He’s tailing a kid who smokes pot and may be supplying his friends. Cristi dislikes the assignment: the kid’s clearly not a dealer, an arrest would ruin his life, and, Cristi assumes that Romania will soon tolerate marijuana. But his superior tells him flatly that the law is the law and to finish the case with a quick arrest.

Silver Bear at Berlinale 2010.

Police, Adjective (‘Politist, adjectiv’, Romania, 2009) / Directed by Corneliu Porumboiu / Casting: Dragos Bucur, Vlad Ivanov, Irina Saulescu / Drama, 115 min, English subtitles.

Cristi est un jeune policier. Lors d’une filature, il voit un garçon vendre du haschich à ses copains de lycée. Il refuse de l’arrêter alors que la loi l’y oblige. Il ne veut pas avoir la vie du jeune homme sur la conscience. Mais pour son supérieur, le mot conscience a un autre sens.