THE CURSE OF THE HEDGEHOG
(Blestemul Ariciului)

Dumitru Budrala
Romania 2004 | 100 Min. | BetaSP, OmeU

THE CURSE OF THE HEDGEHOG fol­lows the life of an extend­ed Roma family for a whole year. They belong to the ”Baesi” group of Roma and live in extreme pover­ty. The film­mak­er accom­pa­nied them on the way from their dwelling place in the moun­tains to the low­land vil­lages, where they try to trade hand­made goods for food or money. These winter tours are sur­vival trips for them, as they have no other income what­so­ev­er. How­ev­er, the film is more than the story of their strug­gle to sur­vive. During the 100 min­utes, it becomes clear why they refuse to work the land and how they relate to the Roman­ian shep­herds, and to the rich Baesi from their vil­lage whom they call ”busi­ness­men,” who make large for­tunes from sell­ing fake rings abroad. Mytho­log­i­cal think­ing comes into play in their every­day life, along with their Chris­t­ian Ortho­dox reli­gious­ness. This enables a better under­stand­ing of the absur­di­ties and the pain that fill the lives of these people on the fringe of soci­ety. Through wit and humour, they sur­vive, but also with a lot of cursing.